Path of the Chosen: A Beginning
by Blacksheep28
Summary: Cara just turned twelve, and is excited for her pokemon adventure to begin. Starting with Polaris, a ponyta, she heads out on a journey filled with surprises and pokemon of legend.
1. Chapter 1

Based off of Ferngirl's Path of the Chosen 1: A Beginning story

Twelve years old, and I finally passed the trainer's test. No more school for me! It had almost killed me, waiting for my birthday so I could take the test to train pokemon. But here I was, finally out of school and ready to get my first pokemon from Professor Oak. I tossed my blonde hair out of my face, my dad's zubat tangling in my hair. The blind bat squeaked in discomfort. I reached back, rubbing his head apologetically. Weepinbell, hanging from my arm, rumbled softly in agreement. He belonged to my mom. Both of them always walked with me to school, an extra layer of protection. I didn't mind. It was fun hanging out with them.

I still had to wait another week before I could actually get a pokemon. Living in Aqua Town sucked sometimes. It was just a small little town a short distance from Pallet, barely even on the map, but still close enough to travel there to get a starter from. At least I had the gift Ben gave me. I rubbed my hand absently over the empty pokeball my best friend had given me. He might not be as crazy about pokemon as I am, but he certainly knew me well. He'd put up with me working on memorizing all 149 pokemon in Kanto, and chattering away about who I would want on my team. It was because of him I was waiting another week, as he still had a week to go before his birthday to take the qualifying test. Not that I doubted he'd pass it.

Daydreaming about who I'd finally choose, I almost didn't notice the voices until I was right on top of them. Startled, I looked around, no one in sight. They must have been on the other side of the bushes I'd been walking past. Why would anyone go into that old field? It was rusty, and a nasty nest of rattatas had moved in there. They had bit a couple people who'd disturbed them. My curiosity getting the better of me once more as I slipped around to a gap in the bushes and looked through. It was probably nothing, some idiots getting in a fight from the sound of it, but I couldn't resist looking.

There were idiots in a fight alright, but it wasn't a fair one. A raticate, beedrill, and spearow were all ganging up on a spindly ponyta. Three ugly boys about two years older than me were commanding them to attack. I could clearly see that the ponyta was favoring its left foreleg, yet the boys weren't stopping. A broken scream ripped from the young pokemon's throat as the spearow dived in, narrowly dodging a hoof strike.

"Hey! Let that pokemon go!" The three boys turned around and stared at me. Was that me? That was...foolish. I mean, it wasn't right to let them keep bullying the ponyta, but they were older than me, and I had no pokemon besides my family's pets. Sure I used them in practice battles sometimes, but that wasn't the same as a real pokemon battle. Still, I'd spoken out now, and I couldn't just walk away and let them continue hurting the poor ponyta.

"This is none of your business pipsqueak. Leave," the biggest boy ordered. I gulped, but straightened up. I wouldn't back down, not before bullies like this. Desperately I looked at the ponyta. The beedrill dove in, stinging its flank. The ponyta screamed again, trying to fall back. What could I do? I could order zubat and weepinbell to attack, but it would still be unfair with the ponyta badly weakened. I couldn't defeat their pokemon and hope the ponyta wouldn't collapse from the poison in bedrill's stinger while I tried to defend it. Absently, I stroked the empty pokeball Ben had given me trying to think.

Wait. That was it. They couldn't hurt the ponyta if it was captured, and it was surely weakened enough by now to not be able to break free! As soon as the thought was in my head I had thrown the capsule at the ponyta. Thankfully my years of fantasizing had paid off, letting me catch the pokeball perfectly after the ponyta was sucked in.

"Hey! Give that to us, now!" The leader of the group ordered furiously. I clutched the small pokeball tightly and shook my head. He scowled.

"I'm not sure you understand. Give us the pokeball, and we won't use our pokemon on you. Got it?" Glancing at the pokemon now turning their attention to me with their previous target gone, I gulped. Still, I couldn't just give up.

"Zubat, supersonic! Weepinbell, vinewhip!" Zubat immediately released a high pitched attack that left my ears ringing slightly. At least I was behind him and didn't get the worst of it. Dizzy, the pokemon stumbled back into their masters, pushed further by the vinewhip. I turned and ran then, Zubat and Weepinbell right on my heels. Perhaps I should have stayed and fought, but I had two pokemon to their three, and zubat wasn't a fighter. Their attacks had earned me the time necessary to get out of there though, and lickety split I was racing down the street to the local pokemon center, desperate to get help for the ponyta.

Bursting in I held out the pokeball I'd caught the ponyta in. "I need help! Three boys were beating up this ponyta, it needs help." Nurse Joy quickly stepped out from behind the desk.

"Oh dear. I'll go take care of it immediately. Wait right here. I promise your pokemon will be just fine." I blinked. My pokemon? Zubat nuzzled into my hair as I blinked, bright blue eyes wide with shock. That was right. I'd caught the ponyta with the pokeball Ben gave me. If someone else had owned it my plan wouldn't have worked. I felt a little foolish, realizing that my entire rescue plan had hinged on something I had no idea would work or not, but the ponyta was mine now.

Realizing I was way late heading home I walked over to the phone and called home. My mom picked up quickly.

"Cara! Where are you? The pokemon center? What are you doing there?" she said in rapid succession, no room for me to jump in. Grinning I shrugged.

"I caught my first pokemon. It's pretty injured, so I need to heal it up before I come home." Mom frowned in surprise.

"Your first pokemon? How? I thought you were waiting for Ben to get your starter?"

"It's a long story." I explained what had happened over the phone while I waited for Nurse Joy to finish working on my ponyta. Once I was finished my mom agreed to come over with Dad to pick me and my new pokemon up once it was completely healed. She also told me to tell the police what had happened. If there were pokemon abusers in the area they'd want to know.

I dialed the police and shyly told them my story. They thanked me for my time and told me they'd be on the lookout for the three boys I'd described. Once I'd hung up I saw Nurse Joy come back out.

"How's my ponyta?" I asked. It felt odd to refer to it that way. My first pokemon, and it wasn't even one of the normal starters! It felt so surreal. Nurse Joy smiled.

"She's going to be just fine. We've cured her of her poisoning, and most of the other injuries she had. The biggest worry is that leg of hers. She'll stay overnight so we can continue monitoring it. You should be able to pick her up in the morning if all goes well."

"Can I see her?" Nurse Joy nodded.

"She's still asleep, but you can check in on her if you'd like." I nodded eagerly and followed her to the back room. The young ponyta looked so small on the table, covered in blankets with her leg still kept in a cast to help it heal properly. I ran my hand over her pearly fur, slightly in awe.

"She's going to be just fine," Nurse Joy reassured me. I smiled at her.

"Can I wait here until my parents come?" I asked.

"I don't see any reason why not," she replied.

"Thanks." Settling into my chair I studied my ponyta. I was going to have to name her. I wondered what she'd be like. Would she be friendly? Bold? Perhaps she would be skittish, and I'd have to gentle her. I drifted off, imagining the powerful bond that would form, and what it would be like traveling the world with her at my side.


	2. Chapter 2

_The grass moved gently on the large hill, a blue sky that seemed to go on forever taking over everything else. It was peaceful. Dozens of pokemon filled the grounds each one at complete peace. It was still, almost like a photograph save for the slight breeze stirring the grass. I walked ahead feeling drawn to something further ahead. Closer up I could see a small pink feline pokemon. It seemed to be watching something. I tried to get a better glimpse at it, but the dream just began to fade away…_

I jerked awake with a gasp, catching myself from falling off the chair. I must have fallen asleep. What a strange dream. I'd never had one so sharp and clear in my mind before, almost burned in. It was beautiful, and rather peaceful. I wished I knew what that pokemon had been..

Glancing up I saw my mom and dad, Nurse Joy standing close by with a smile.

"Oh!" Embarrassed I got to my feet.

"Long day?" Nurse Joy asked kindly. I nodded, eyes fixed on the ground. Smiling my mom pulled me into her grasp.

"We'll take her home now. We'll be back in the morning for her ponyta."

"Have a good evening," Nurse Joy cheerfully answered.

At home I was quick to call up Ben and tell him to come over. I had to tell him what had happened. After all, it was his gift that gave me my first pokemon. It wasn't long before a knock on the door told me he was here. I raced down and threw open the door.

"Hey," Ben greeted me. The brunette towered over me. I wasn't small for my age, but Ben certainly made me feel that way with his height. Meeting his brown eyes wasn't easy.

"Hey Ben!" I gushed, "You know that pokeball you gave me? Well I used it. I caught my first pokemon! She's a ponyta. I don't have her with me right now though, Nurse Joy has to make sure her leg's set right." Ben placed a large hand on my shoulder.

"Whoa, slow down. A ponyta? How did this happen?" Ben asked, "I thought you were gonna wait and go to Pallet Town with me?" I blushed.

"I know. I didn't go to Pallet Town. I found a group of boys hurting this ponyta. She's pretty young actually, and they broke her leg. That's why she's still at the pokecenter. I caught her to rescue her." Ben frowned.

"You would have been in huge trouble if the ponyta hadn't been wild."

"I kinda realized that after it all happened," I said. He pulled me into a quick hug.

"You gotta be more careful Cara. It won't be easy as a trainer. I'm glad you're alright. And I'm excited to meet this new pokemon of yours!" I grinned.

"You can come with me to pick her up tomorrow!" Ben nodded. We chatted some more, still agreeing to wait for Ben to go together. Ben eventually dug out his electronics, tinkering away while we chatted. He did have a gift for it.

It was late when he finally left. I collapsed into bed exhausted from the excitement. It still didn't stop me from waking up early the next day, excited to pick up my ponyta. I dragged Ben out of his house still half asleep to come down with me. Nurse Joy looked surprised to see us showing back up so soon, but smiled in amusement at my enthusiasm.

"Is my ponyta alright? Can I see her now?"

"She's awake. Just keep in mind she's had a bad experience. She's gonna be a little skittish around humans at first, especially since she's just a baby." I had thought she looked young. Entering the room my ponyta had been entered in I watched as the young ponyta got to her feet, spindly long legs dancing underneath her as she pulled herself up and nervously moved away. I slowly moved a little bit closer, holding my hand out low for her to sniff.

"Hey, it's okay. I'm not gonna hurt you." The ponyta eyed me nervously. Smiling softly I moved a little closer.

"I'm not like those others that hurt you. I promise." Thinking for a moment I dug out a carrot I'd grabbed. I'd planned on using it to get her to follow me out of the pokecenter, but probably better to use it to gain her trust first. She sniffed the carrot hungrily, still watching me as she moved closer. Grabbing the carrot, she quickly began to chew it. I smiled.

"There you go." Slowly relaxing the little ponyta nuzzled into me. I couldn't stop the wide grin that formed on my face.

"Now what should I name you?" Petting her gently, I examined her. She was a little different from most ponytas. Ponytas mainly were golden, with their coat a soft sheen to match. This one was instead a pearly white, still blending in well with her fiery mane but not the same as the soft cream color most ponytas had. Thinking I smiled.

"How about Polaris? Your coat's as bright as the star that guides lost travelers." The ponyta nickered, nuzzling me happily. I chuckled.

"Polaris it is."

"Looks like you'll get along fine," Ben commented. Grinning I turned to him.

"I hope so!" With the most difficult part over with, earning her trust, getting her to follow me out and towards home was easy. It seemed Polaris was eager to stick with the one human she had deemed friendly. She was starting to look at Ben more and more, slowly moving closer to him, so I had high hopes it wouldn't remain that way. Arriving back at the house I let her into the back garden so she could munch on some grass while I looked for my parents. She seemed pretty happy in the large yard. Stepping inside I smiled, watching from the kitchen as Polaris curiously explored the area. Mom came up behind me and looked into the yard.

"She looks happy," she commented.

"Yeah," I grinned.

The week waiting for Ben's birthday seemed to stretch on forever. At least I had Polaris to keep me company. It was fun playing with my new ponyta, even doing a couple mock battles with my dad's weepinbell. At last however, the day came, Ben showing up bright and early. This time I was the one being dragged out half asleep, Ben nearly bouncing in his excitement.

"Mom, we're heading out!" I called.

"Alright. Just remember to keep in touch."

"I will!" Dashing up to my room I grabbed my pack and raced into the backyard. Polaris startled, ears flattening for a moment before she recognized me. I'd have to be more careful.

"Come on Polaris, we're going to Pallet Town," I explained. Ears perked Polaris trotted up to me. I rubbed her forehead gently and lead her out. I stopped quickly at the pokemart to buy some pokeballs, as with Polaris there was no reason to keep waiting to start catching pokemon. Waving farewell, I excitedly started down the path towards Pallet Town.

It wasn't a long walk thankfully, only a couple of hours. It was nice just walking with Polaris and Ben, the curious filly occasionally going over to investigate some bushes and grabbing some grass. A few times I saw a rattata or a pidgey, but I didn't have much luck catching either one. Perhaps it was for the best, as they weren't the strongest pokemon. A rustling in a nearby bush grabbed my attention, pulling me from my thoughts.. A pikachu suddenly darted out. Lighting up I decided to try again. I had to succeed here!

"Alright, let's try to catch it Polaris! Tackle!" Polaris' ears pricked up with the command and charged the small electric pokemon. The pikachu startled sparks of electricity beginning to dance in it's cheeks. The blow knocked it back but it still unleashed a thundershock.

"Dodge, Polaris!" Wheeling, back she got out of the way. I was just about to cry out for Polaris to kick the pikachu when she dashed in and struck it with her hooves, knocking it back. Figuring it was exhausted enough, I threw the pokeball. It shook for a couple moments, worrying me it wasn't as tired as I'd thought. This wouldn't be like catching Polaris. Thankfully it stopped, telling me it was caught.

"Yes!" I cheered. Triumphantly I spun around showing the pokeball to Ben and Polaris. "We caught pikachu!" Polaris sniffed the pokeball curiously for a moment before snorting. Ben looked jealous.

"Haven't even reached Pallet Town and you're already catching pokemon," Ben said. I shrugged.

"I was really lucky. I'll have to name it. I know. I'll call him Pooka, after another pikachu I know." Polaris whinnied her agreement. Ben sighed.

"How about we part ways for a little while? You and Polaris can go ahead," Ben suggested. I looked at him closely. It seemed me having two pokemon so quickly when Ben didn't even have one was bothering him more than he'd said. I nodded deciding to give him his space. Polaris and I continued down the road, Ben lingering behind to think. Another rustle drew my attention. Turning I stared. It was a pink feline pokemon, exactly like the one from my dream. It drifted through the air towards us.

"Muu," the pokemon said. I patted Polaris nervously studying it. I thought I'd known all the pokemon in Kanto, but I didn't recognize this one. I mentally ran through the list in my head trying to identify it.

"Uh, hi," I said.

"Muu," the pokemon answered. Slowly it flipped itself over in the air. Smiling at the friendly pokemon I dug into my backpack, pulling out a couple apples. Giving one to Polaris I left the ponyta to happily crunch on it while I held the other out to the strange pokemon. It examined the apple for a moment before happily taking it.

"What are you?" I asked.

"Muu," the pokemon answered.

"Is that your name?"

"Mew," the pokemon answered. Giggling the pokemon floated back, and vanished. Startled I looked at Polaris.

"That did really happen, right?" I asked. Polaris whickered and nudged my arm. A little excited and a little disbelieving about what I'd seen I looked around, hoping for another glance of the strange pokemon. No such luck unfortunately.

We took a break then. Might as well, and I wanted to get to know my new pikachu. Releasing Pooka I grinned at the electric mouse.

"Hey, I'm your trainer now." The pikachu stared at me. "I'm going to take care of you, okay?" Still nothing. I looked to Polaris.

"Ideas?" Polaris whickered softly. Suddenly the pikachu darted forward and curled into my lap.

"Ka!" I laughed in surprise. Seemed Pooka was friendlier than I'd thought. He'd just needed time to warm up. Cuddling Pooka I handed out snacks to everyone. Pooka nuzzled me cheerfully, a slight shock running through me. I'd have to be careful of that, didn't want to get zapped too much. Snack finished I let Pooka climb up to my shoulder and we continued on our way, Polaris cheerfully trotting beside me. It was about an hour later that Pallet Town came into view. It was a small town like home, centered around the pokemon laboratory where Professor Oak worked. I headed in and knocked on the door, Pooka looking around curiously while Polaris stood close.

"Come in!" Professor Oak called. Pushing my way in I found Professor Oak in the middle of a balancing act, arms full of pokeballs that threatened to spill out.

"Here, let me help you." I grabbed a few of the escaping spheres, Pooka grabbing one as well to help. I followed him to a box where we dumped them all in.

"Phew. Thanks for the help. Who are you?" Professor Oak said.

"Oh, I'm Cara Kellan. I hope you don't mind me arriving early."

"Oh! Your parents called. I should have realized it was you." Looking at Pooka he frowned. "I was told you had a ponyta. Where'd the pikachu come from?"

"I caught him on the way over," I explained with a large smile.

"I see. Well seems you won't be needing a starter from me after all." I nodded hesitantly. I had expected that, but I was still disappointed. I'd been hoping to get a starter from him, they were all fairly rare pokemon in the wild. If I didn't get one as a starter I probably wouldn't get one at all.

"So what's with the pokeballs?" I asked. The professor ducked his head.

"Well I'd been told to expect you, so I was trying to tidy up when one of the shelves fell over. Unfortunately a lot of the pokemon escaped. I've rounded up most of them, but I'm still missing a charmander. I'm just not as young as I used to be." I brightened up.

"Why don't I help you look for it?" I suggested.

"You'd be willing? That'd be great! I saw her head down that way," Professor Oak said, gesturing down the road. I nodded.

"I'll do what I can." Heading down the route I kept my eyes open for the stray charmander. Pooka lifted his head sniffing the air. I glanced to him.

"Think you can sniff out the charmander?"

"Cha!" Pooka replied. I grinned.

"Thanks." After a while Pooka jumped off my shoulder and darted down into a garden. Chasing after him I found a charmander curled up under a bush.

"There you are!" The charmander shifted around. I blinked in surprise. The charmander had a dark streak on her nose. I'd never seen something like that before. The charmander bared her teeth angrily.

"Guess we found you," I said. She growled.

"Come on. We have to take you back to the lab." She retreated further into the bush. No wonder Professor Oak had trouble with this one.

"What's wrong? Don't you want a trainer to pick you?" The charmander fell silent. Encouraged I grinned.

"Didn't you know? You're at the lab so a trainer can pick you to go on an adventure with them. You'll be able to travel all of Kanto. You won't be there much longer." At this the charmander crawled out blinking large eyes at me.

"Char?" I smiled.

"It'll be fine. I promise." Happily the charmander settled into my arms. I rubbed her head softly as Pooka leaped back up onto my shoulder.

"Alright, time to head back." With the charmander clinging tightly to me I returned to Polaris on the road and headed down the street back to the laboratory.

"Maybe my friend Ben will pick you." Charmander listened closely as I told her about traveling with a trainer, and and how pokemon battles worked. I told her how she would evolve and grow strong, and how she was special, as the only starter pokemon that could evolve to fly. Arriving back at the lab I grinned at Professor Oak.

"So you found her!" Professor Oak exclaimed. He looked at the charmander snuggled into my arms and chuckled. "She seems pretty happy with you." I nodded and moved to pass her back. Viciously she suddenly lashed her tail out toward the professor. He pulled back quickly. Startled I held her close.

"What was that?" I asked in confusion. The professor sighed.

"It's what I was afraid of. She never has been particularly happy here with me, and not too fond of humans. I actually was a little relieved you had received that ponyta of yours, as this charmander might not have liked you and I would have hated to set you up with a pokemon that would attack you." I blinked in surprise. She had seemed a little wild, but nothing like what the professor was saying. I could hardly believe she'd tried to attack the professor.

"She's going to be a one person pokemon. And it seems she's chosen you," Professor Oak sighed.

"What? Really?" I asked. The professor nodded.

"She likes you. I'm not sure how well she might get along with the other trainers coming to pick up pokemon. I doubt she'd do well staying here longer. Perhaps you can teach her to accept other humans." Beaming, I snuggled the charmander closely, careful of the tail.

"Guess I'd better name her then." I looked at the charmander in my arms. She yawned contentedly, clearly pleased with herself for getting what she wanted.

"Charren," I decided. The professor grinned.

"If you're staying here waiting for your friend, why don't you help me with my work?" Professor Oak asked.

"Sure!" I responded. The hours were spent helping reorganize the pokeballs on the shelves, and helping to feed the various pokemon trainers had dropped off here. There were all kinds, and Professor Oak was kept busy taking notes on their various activities. I had fun watching them. I was actually surprised at how long Ben was taking to get here. Well I could occupy myself. I wanted to ask Professor Oak about the pokemon I'd seen though. Surely he would know what it was.

I took out my notebook and a pencil and carefully sketched out what the feline pokemon had looked like. It wasn't easy, I was no artist. At last I was satisfied that it looked close enough to what the pokemon had looked like that Professor Oak would know what it was supposed to be. I took it over to the professor where he was leaning over paperwork.

"Professor, do you know what this pokemon is?" I asked. He looked up, surprised.

"That's Mew, a legendary pokemon said to be the ancestor of all the others. Where did you see a drawing of it?" he said.

"I didn't see a drawing. I saw this pokemon," I said. He frowned.

"Very funny. People have searched for Mew their entire lives and never caught so much as a glimpse." I frowned.

"I'm telling the truth!" I exclaimed. The professor sighed.

"Maybe it was a raichu. They're similar in build," he suggested. It wasn't a raichu. But I could tell he wasn't going to be convinced.

At long last Ben arrived. Eager to start on our journey, he picked up his squirtle. Ben had decided on squirtle for his starter long before we started, talking almost nonstop some days about why squirtles were the best starters. A huge difference from my own inability to choose. Professor Oak warned us to be careful, and gave us our pokeballs and pokedexes. With a wave we headed out. At last, our adventure began!


	3. Chapter 3

We eagerly started on the path down to Viridian City, Polaris walking beside me with Pooka on my shoulder and Charren in my arms. It didn't take long before Ben spotted a pidgey he wanted to catch. His squirtle was actually pretty lucky in the fight. The pidgey was tough, and didn't go down easily. Once it was captured it took a real liking to Ben, taking the chance to ride on his shoulder. We took a break at lunch by a river. It was a good thing I didn't have to feed Polaris. It would be difficult getting enough food to keep a ponyta full. Luckily she could just munch on the grass. Throwing my collapsible rod from home in the water I leaned back and relaxed. It probably wouldn't be good for catching much, but it was a good way to relax.

"So, I saw this pokemon on the way to Pallet Town," I said casually.

"Yeah?" Ben asked lazily, relaxed from lunch and content to soak in the sun with me.

"Yeah. A pink feline pokemon. Professor Oak said it sounded like Mew, but he didn't believe I'd really seen it." Ben sat up and looked at me.

"You saw Mew." I nodded. He studied me for a moment before looking back at the river.

"Okay." I blinked in disbelief.

"You believe me?" Ben rolled his eyes.

"I know you, Cara. You're pretty honest, and if you were gonna make something up it'd be something far more believable than seeing a pokemon most people don't even really believe exists." I chuckled.

"Suppose that's true," I answered. Leaning back I grinned. "Thanks."

"No problem." A tug on the rod drew my attention back to the river. Pulling it up I grinned.

"Alright, a magikarp!" I exclaimed. Ben stared at me like I was crazy.

"You're excited for a magikarp?" he asked.

"Well they do evolve into gyarados," I explained. The magikarp continued to wriggle on my line. Ben rolled his eyes.

"Then catch it already!" Laughing I threw the pokeball. It shook for a couple moments before being captured. Picking up the pokeball I grinned.

"Alright! Now I just have to name it." Thoughtfully I considered the pokeball. Releasing my new magikarp back into the water I watched it swim around as I scanned it with my pokedex. So he was a male, and as expected only knew splash. Hopefully he would take to training. I closed my eyes trying to imagine my gyarados. It was hard with his pre-evolution swimming around right in front of me, supposedly without a care in the world.

Gyaradoses were quite large. I could draw a name from that. "Leviathan," I decided. Ben snorted looking at the decidedly nonregal magikarp.

"If you say so," he said. I glared at him and returned Leviathan to his pokeball. He would become a gyarados and fit his name. I'd make sure of it. We continued on from our fishing spot then, stopping to camp and train in the evening.

The next day we reached our destination: Viridian City!

It was difficult to not stare at everything. The buildings were huge, almost blocking out the sky. It was larger than anything I'd ever seen. I couldn't stop gawking at everything I saw, Polaris shrinking into my side.

"It's...it's...so big…" I said. Ben smiled.

"Right, you've never been to a big city before. Come on, let's go to the pokemon center. We can rest up there." I nodded and trailed after him, Pooka occasionally piping up to remind me to keep moving after Ben. As soon as our pokemon were taken care of and we'd called our parents to let them know we'd arrived safely, we headed back out to explore the city. It was awesome! Polaris was a little shy, but I made sure to keep an eye on her and as long as we avoided large crowds she was just fine.

"I thought there was supposed to be a gym in this city," I commented to Ben. We'd been wandering around for some time and I hadn't seen it yet. A gym was usually the main building in a city, centered around the gym's leader and the protection they granted. I hadn't seen Viridian's yet though. A laugh caught my attention, a boy leaning against a nearby wall.

"Sorry, newbie trainers are just so cute, the way they try to find the gym." The boy chuckled again. "You won't find the gym leader here. He leaves for weeks at a time. You wouldn't be able to face him anyways. He's the toughest gym leader in the league. He'd wipe you so hard you'd have to crawl to the pokemon center." I stiffened in anger. Taking a deep breath I tried to not let him get under my skin.

"So he's not here? Well I don't want to wait weeks. Guess I'll just head on to Pewter City," I said. The boy sneered.

"You really think you can take on a gym leader and win?" Snapping I spun around.

"Yeah, I can!" The boy pulled out a pokeball.

"Prove it in a battle then."

"Fine! Polaris, go!" My ponyta looked at me and nickered encouragement before trotting out. The boy tossed his pokeball releasing an enormous fearow. The bird soared overhead watching Polaris predatorily.

"Peck!" the boy shouted. Spearow dove down sharply. Polaris shied slightly at the sight.

"Dodge Polaris, and follow up with ember!" I shouted. Polaris wheeled out of the way and spat flames right in the fearow's face. Startled it rose up again into the air crying in anger.

"Don't let it spook ya!" the boy shouted, "Use fury attack!" The fearow again dove rapidly, this time too fast to dodge. Sharp talons scraped down Polaris' back. Startled the ponyta reared striking in fear with her hooves. Caught in the wings the fearow was pulled down. Before it could fly again Polaris began to trample it down. Twisting sharply the fearow drove it's long beak into Polaris' chest forcing her to back off. The battered fearow stood up and cawed harshly. The long wings stirred up a fierce gust that buffeted Polaris. Before Polaris could recover it dove down and struck her hard, knocking her down. The boy recalled it as I rushed to Polaris' side.

"Good girl," I crooned, "it's gonna be alright.". Lovingly I took a potion and sprayed her cuts. I'd want to get her checked at the pokecenter to make sure she was alright, after all that was quite a beating she'd taken, but she'd done fantastic for my first official pokemon battle. Polaris nuzzled me happily nickering softly. The boy smirked. "Come back when you're ready." I glared at him as he marched off. Arrogant fellow.

"Guess we'll be heading to Pewter City." We returned to the pokemon center, the nurse cheerfully looking over Polaris and working on healing her. We left shortly after to Viridian forest. Sticking close to the trail we wandered through the forest doing our best to not disturb the beedrill that haunted it. Polaris and Pooka would be able to keep them at bay for some time, but being swarmed by them wasn't something I wanted to experience.

Heading down the forest, I was caught off guard when something suddenly dropped on my head. Squealing in surprise I danced around. Ben looked back at me and burst into laughter. Stopping my dancing I glared at him.

"What?" Ben pointed at my head. Glancing up, I frowned seeing part of a caterpie. All that panic over a little caterpillar? Embarrassed I picked it up into my arms.

"You scared me," I scolded the little pokemon. Not at all discouraged it snuggled into me searching for food. I was surprised the pokemon was so affectionate. Smiling I held it close. It looked like I'd caught my next pokemon-or she caught me. Naming her Karren I let her happily cuddle with me as we continued down the path. I continued to look for pokemon to catch, but it wasn't easy with the beedrill in the forest. Pooka actually got stung at one point. Thankfully Ben had an antidote to cure the poison, or we would have been forced to flee the forest before we even got halfway through it.

Pausing at a stream for a break, I brightened as I spotted a nearby poliwag clamber out of the water. It would make a great addition to my team. The poliwag spotted us, and immediately began to run. Not willing to let it escape I broke into a run of my own chasing after it. The poliwag was pretty fast. Luckily it tripped, hitting a tree. A large beedrill came out of it. Realizing the danger I immediately looked to Pooka.

"Thundershock, quick!" Pooka quickly zapped the beedrill sending it spiraling down. The poor poliwag backed away hiding under a nearby bush. Cheering I hugged Pooka. "Perfect!" Shakily the beedrill began to rise. Realizing the danger Ben rapidly released Squirtle. "Watergun the beedrill!" Ben shouted. The beedrill was hit again sending it into a tree. Ticked off the beedrill charged towards Squirtle. The young pokemon dove barely getting out of the way the beedrill scraping across his back. "Watergun again!" Squirtle blasted at it, this time knocking the beedrill unconscious. Drawing a pokeball Ben tossed it at the beedrill capturing it. Ben grinned with pleasure at his capture. Now we were safe. Sighing in relief I crouched down by the bush.

"Hey, come out little guy." Bright eyes stared out at me suspiciously. Smiling I took out a berry and offered it to him.

"I won't hurt you," I promised. Tempted by the berry the poliwag slowly came out and took the berry. Karren peered down at the pokemon tilting her head curiously. The poliwag burbled softly, retreating slightly again. I pulled out yet another berry. More bold this time he snatched it up happily enjoying how juicy it was. Karren preed softly and wriggled down my arm towards the poliwag. He looked at the caterpie suspiciously but didn't move away.

"Do you want to come with us?" I asked. The poliwag hesitated. We had scared him pretty bad with the chase, but we hadn't harmed him either. We had actually fed him. Nodding his head he let me capture him. Happily I looked to Ben.

"Looks like I caught another pokemon." Pleased with my success I turned back to the trail, and we continued on our way. Ben shrugged, happy with my success but not particularly caring. He was happy to train the pokemon he had and focus on them.


	4. Chapter 4

Finally we reached Pewter City. I was excited to take on the gym, but I would need to train first. I clearly wasn't ready, as demonstrated by that fight against the trainer with the fearow. Pewter City's gym specialized in rock types. I didn't have a lot of pokemon who could fight against rock pokemon. Welly my poliwag might be able to, but Welly was still pretty weak, my strongest pokemon being Polaris and Charren, and neither of them were particularly well suited for battling against rock pokemon. Picking who I would want to use wouldn't be easy.

I decided to spend the week training my pokemon before taking on the battle. At least if they were stronger I would have a better idea of who I could use. Ben agreed to help me train using his own pokemon. I had Charren and Polaris work on strengthening their physical attacks and speed, knowing they'd be important if I used either of them in the gym. Polaris was already rather fast, I had her racing against Ben's pidgey to give her some competition. Pooka was the only one close to being able to keep up, and his small size prevented that.

Pooka practiced his aim and strengthening his electric attacks working with Ben's nidoran who had found a way to channel most of the electricity into the ground. It took a pretty powerful shock to shake up the nidoran. That left Karren practicing her tackles on trees, and Welly working on improving his water attacks. I had tried to interest Leviathan in training, even bribing him with treats, but nothing had worked. He just wasn't interested in battling. I was forced to give up, and just hope that he would gain an interest in time.

At the end of the week I had picked my pokemon. Welly would be in the fight, as my only pokemon that could give me a type advantage over the gym leader. I had worked extra hard with Welly to make sure that his watergun was powerful and he could aim it with precision. He was still a little clumsy on land but I felt he was doing well enough to join in the gym battle. Polaris was my other pick. Despite being a fire type she was my strongest pokemon, and I felt she was my best second choice. With that settled I headed out to get some practice battles in with the pair.

Polaris handled herself in battle as well as I had come to expect boldly striking at her opponents and standing her ground. I won quite a few battles with her, only losing a couple as she began to grow more tired and worn down. That was fine, she was still young. She had done amazing. Welly had done well in his battles too, if not winning as many. He even managed to defeat a boy with a pretty tough little sandshrew. I felt confident he would be a formidable fighter once he evolved though and lost his clumsiness on land.

Heading back to the pokemon center for the night I relaxed on the bed as my pokemon settled in to sleep. Ben sat on his own bed and pulled out some of his electronics, beginning to fiddle around with them.

"You can have the first gym match," Ben said as he worked. I grinned.

"Thanks."

"Don't thank me, that just gives me more time to strategize," Ben chuckled. Grabbing my pillow I chucked it at him, Ben quickly ducking out of the way. Huffing I stole my pillow back and squeezed it.

"I'm so excited for my first gym match. I can hardly believe the butterfrees in my stomach. Hopefully they're gone before the match. I'd hate to get so nervous I lost my first gym match!" Polaris nickered softly and nudged me. I gently petted her nose. I watched Ben fiddle around on his electronics, eyes widening as he pulled out his pokedex and opened the back panel.

"What are you doing?" I asked. Sure Ben messed around with electronics all the time, but this was his pokedex. He couldn't get it replaced if it broke. Ben smirked and pulled it closer trying to hide it from view.

"I'll show you when I'm done," he answered. To distract me he thrust what seemed like a normal camera into my hands. Not entirely trusting that it was normal I eyed it suspiciously.

"Is this a Ben camera, or a normal store bought one?" I asked. Ben huffed.

"Normal," he muttered. Grinning I quickly took a picture of Ben while he was off guard.

"Hey!" he protested. Smirking I looked at the picture.

"Looks good!" Ben went back to ignoring me, and I started taking pictures of my pokemon : Karren curled up on Polaris' back, Welly bouncing on the bed, Pooka and Charren cheerfully wrestling with each other. It'd be great to have these photos. I'd be able to look back at my journey from them, see how far I'd gone.

The next day we woke up early. I was extremely nervous about the upcoming match, Ben had to practically wrestle me to get me to eat anything. As Ben finished his own breakfast I paced nervously.

"Would you stop that? You're making me dizzy," Ben said.

"I can't help myself, I'm too nervous," I confessed. Ben sighed.

"Let's go down then, and get this over with." I nodded and with that we headed down to the gym. Ben had settled on using his squirtle, of course, and his pidgey for his own match. I wasn't sure how well a pidgey could really do in a battle against rock pokemon, but the same could be said for my ponyta.

I froze up in front of the door. Ben sighed and pushed the door open dragging me after him. Taking a deep breath I forced confidence into my stance as I stared around inside the dimmed gym.

"Is anyone here?" I called. The lights flicked on, revealing a young man with dark spiked hair.

"I've been expecting you," he said. Surprised I blinked.

"How?" I asked. The gym leader grinned.

"You battled my little brother yesterday. He told me about you, and that you were planning on challenging my gym." I thought back to yesterday. He must have been the owner of the sandshrew. That kid had been hard to beat. He was the little brother of the gym leader? How tough was the gym leader if his little brother had been that hard?

"I am Brock, leader of the rock gym. Do you understand the rules of a gym battle?" he said. I nodded.

"Good. Two pokemon each. Let's begin," Brock said. I nodded and tossed Welly's pokeball releasing my poliwag onto the field. Brock studied him for a moment before nodding and throwing his own pokeball.

"Geodude, go!" The boulder pokemon appeared glancing around the field before locking onto Welly.

"Tackle," Brock called. Geodude quickly charged forward to hit Welly.

"Quick, dodge!" I shouted. Welly jumped up out of the way and bounced over geodude's head. He found a hiding place behind a rock and quickly ducked behind it. Geodude turned around searching for his opponent.

"Rock throw," Brock calmly stated. Grabbing a rock geodude threw it, shattering the rocks around it. The hail of rocks continued for a while before Welly's hiding place was hit, again revealing the poliwag. Before he could move geodude grabbed him by the tail and swung him towards the wall.

"Use water gun on the wall!" I shouted. Welly turned swiftly and hit the wall with the attack, slowing his flight so he didn't take nearly as much damage as expected, bouncing right back up.

"Bubble!" I shouted. Welly turned and struck geodude full in the face with his bubble blast. Geodude stumbled back in shock. Grabbing another rock he hurled it at Welly. I didn't have time to shout a command. Luckily Welly acted on his own, using water gun to send the rock flying right back at geodude. Rock and water hit the pokemon, knocking him out. Brock returned his pokemon, Welly bouncing with joy at winning.

"Good job Welly!" I shouted. I could see him panting heavily, exhausted from the fight. He still had some fight left in him though, so I let him remain out.

Then Brock sent out his next pokemon. Onix.

I gulped and stared at the massive rock snake. Welly trembled.

"Hang in there!" I called.

"Bind!" Brock shouted.

"Look out!" I shouted. Welly began to run, only to have his feet trip him up once more. Onix's huge tail grabbed him and began to crush him in his coils. Welly cried in pain as the giant rock pokemon began to squeeze. I flinched at the sight, thinking quickly. Welly couldn't wriggle his way out of there, but there had to be another way.

"Welly, use water gun in the air!" I shouted. Aiming the best he could my poliwag sprayed water, sending it spraying through the air. It struck onix sending him recoiling in discomfort. His grip on Welly loosened letting him get free. The small water pokemon staggered, heavily shaken by the damage he'd taken. Onix recovered quickly from the shock of being sprayed and tackled the poliwag, this time knocking him out against a wall. I quickly returned him, whispering good job to his ball before turning to Polaris.

"Your turn girl! Go Polaris!" Brock stared in surprise as the small ponyta calmly trotted out to the battlefield and stared up at the enormous onix.

"If you have a plan for this it must be very good. I can't imagine your ponyta standing up against onix for very long," Brock commented. "Onix, bind it!" Polaris lightly leaped clear of onix's massive tail and snorted in challenge.

"Ember!" I shouted. Polaris spat a stream of flames right at onix's head. The rock snake roared in pain as the water on it's body turned into steam. Thinking quickly I grinned. This was perfect! Onix struck quickly sending Polaris skittering backward but she quickly found her balance again.

"Use ember on the puddle Polaris!" I shouted. The ponyta quickly complied creating more steam. Hurting onix tried to retreat flinching in pain. Polaris repeated the attack seeing the effectiveness. The onix began to move more sluggishly in his attempts to bind Polaris, slowed down by the heated water. He tried to hit the fast moving ponyta but she was dancing almost easily out of the way of the damaged onix. Head low to the ground he was vulnerable to the strategy I'd worked out with Polaris.

"Now! Use stomp!" I shouted. Polaris leaped into the air, hooves hard as diamonds glistening for a moment before striking onix's exposed head with all she was worth. Onix strained himself up and swung his head sending Polaris across the ground. She stood up yet again and struck. Onix roared in frustration and pain but kept going. "Use ember on his eyes Polaris!" I shouted. Polaris reared back, aiming carefully for the vulnerability on his body. Onix slammed down heavily near the fast ponyta, catching a full blast of flame in his eyes. He shook his head in pain, trembling. Polaris trampled him one more time. This time, too weakened by the water and previous blows, onix shuddered, and fell still.

I stood there, feeling a little stunned as my bold little ponyta trotted up to me with a light toss of her head, not even a scratch on her. Brock returned onix and stepped over to where I was. It slowly began to sunk in that I really had won my first gym match. Jumping with excitement I hugged Polaris.

"We won!" I shouted. I could hear Ben cheering for me up in the spectators' area. Brock stepped up to me and held out the badge, the silver metal flashing in the light. I grinned as I took it and placed it carefully in my badge case.

"Thanks," I said. Brock grinned.

"It was a great battle. I bet you'll go far," he said. Beaming I looked to Ben as he climbed down. Brock glanced at him.

"Do you want to challenge me as well?" Brock asked.

"That was the plan," Ben answered.

"You'll have to come back later, I need to look after my pokemon first," Brock said, " Ben nodded.

"That's fine, I could use some extra training. Your pokemon seem pretty tough." Brock nodded in agreement. We headed back to the pokemon center, Ben planning out his strategy for the match.

I accompanied Ben back to the gym the next day, later than we had gone for my own match. Ben hadn't been driving everyone up the wall with his nerves after all. Brock smiled as we arrived.

"Welcome. This will be a two on two pokemon match," Brock said. He sent out his geodude. Ben frowned determinedly and threw his own pokeball sending squirtle out. The squirtle glared at his opponent standing firm.

"Rock throw," Brock commanded. Geodude followed the command quickly.

"Dodge, and use water gun!" Ben shouted. Squirtle quickly followed his command, the rock missing him entirely. Geodude was knocked back by the watergun, but he wasn't down and out yet. Squirtle quickly repeated, this time knocking him out for good.

"That was fast," I commented. It had taken me longer to knock out geodude myself. Calmly Brock returned his geodude, and again sent out his onix. Ben returned his own pokemon, surprising me. Squirtle had an advantage against onix, why would he return him? Even more surprisingly, Ben chose to release his pidgey, a pokemon who was weak against rock types. What was he planning?

"Pidgey, fly around onix's head like we planned! Keep out of range of his blows!" Ben called.

"Onix, take that pidgey out!" Brock ordered. Onix roared and lunged toward Ben's pidgey. The week's work of training showed as his pidgey rapidly dodged out of the way and took to the sky. He began to spin around onix's head, occasionally using gust to try and wear onix down. It didn't work very well. Onix continued to lunge after the pidgey and follow it. The strategy seemed pointless, until I realised that the onix was growing dizzy trying to keep track of the bird. By the time Ben's pidgey was knocked out the onix was far more worn down and confused than expected.

"Squirtle, finish this!" Ben called. His squirtle eagerly walked back out shooting a sharp water gun at the onix. Roaring in pain the onix tried to focus on squirtle and clumsily lunged after him. Squirtle easily dodged him and followed up with more rapid blows. It didn't take long before onix finally collapsed. Brock returned onix and smiled.

"A brilliant strategy, I didn't expect that at all. Congratulations on earning your badge," Brock said. He handed the boulder badge to Ben. Ben grinned up at me as I cheered. Both of us had won our first gym badges.


	5. Chapter 5

After another night at the pokemon center to heal up we headed out towards Mt Moon and Cerulean city. I was eager to get to the city and earn my next badge. It took us until noon to reach Mt Moon's base, the mountain towering majestically over us. Ben got lucky and caught a sandshrew along the way. Taking a lunch break we sat down and relaxed, our pokemon enjoying the time outside while we lounged. Idly, I munched at my sandwich.

"You know, I'd actually like a squirtle of my own. And a bulbasaur too," I said.

"Mmhm," Ben muttered. I sighed. Looked like he was buried in his electronics again. Glancing at it I moved over wondering what he was doing.

"Are you almost finished?" I asked. Ben nodded. I sighed and dug through my pack looking for something to do. I pulled out the picture I'd drawn of Mew, remembering I still had it. I contemplated the picture, thinking of the playful pokemon I'd met. I wondered why she'd appeared in front of me, when people searched their whole lives and didn't even catch a glimpse. Would I see her again?

"We should try to catch it," Ben's voice said from right behind me. I jumped and dropped the paper. How had he gotten so close? I thought he was still working on his pokedex!

"Don't do that!" I shouted. He'd scared the life out of me! Ben chuckled.

"Seems you can be as oblivious as me," Ben observed, "I finished." Picking up the picture I stuffed it back in my pack and turned around to Ben.

"Let's see," I held out my hand to look at it. Ben passed me the pokedex.

"I added a camera so we can send pictures to Professor Oak if we want to. If we see Mew again we could take a picture of her, and then he'd have to believe you," Ben said. I smiled looking at the pokedex. It was a good idea, but…

"I don't think we should tell Professor Oak if we do ever see Mew again," I murmured. Ben frowned.

"How come? I thought you wanted him to believe you?" Ben asked. I shook my head.

"I do, but...something just doesn't feel right about telling. Mew's rare, and I'm sure she wouldn't like it if Professor Oak tried to catch her to study her. There's already people out looking for her, and not everyone believes she's real. Wouldn't it be worse if there was proof she was?" Ben fell silent.

"Yeah, I suppose you're right." We both stood there in silence for a moment before Ben brightened up.

"I didn't just add a camera," Ben said, "I added a phone too! We'll be able to call each other with it." I tilted my head.

"We already have phones and cameras Ben," I pointed out. Ben pulled a face.

"Yeah, but not combined. This is far more convenient," he declared.

"And risky," I added, "you could have broken your pokedex." Ben shrugged.

"It was worth it." Something rustling in the grass caught my attention. Spinning around I quickly called Polaris forward. A bulbasaur wandered out, looking around casually. Surprised I stared in shock. What was a bulbasaur doing out here? Was it alone? A moment later a girl followed after. She must have been the bulbasaur's trainer. She smiled when she saw us.

"Hey, have either of you seen a jigglypuff in the area?" she asked. We both shook our heads.

"Too bad. I've been trying to catch one. No luck so far."

"I'm sure you'll find one," I reassured. The girl flashed me a smile.

"By the way," Ben said, "where did you get that bulbasaur?"

"From Professor Oak," she answered, "Bulbasaur's my starter. I just got her a couple weeks ago." We grinned.

"That's where we got our starters too!" I exclaimed, "I'm Cara, and this is my friend Ben."

"Oh! Professor Oak told me about you two!" the girl said, "I'm Amber. I actually arrived the day after to get my pokemon. I was so glad when I saw bulbasaur had been left behind, he's the one I'd really wanted." Her bulbasaur happily nudged against her soaking in the attention.

"Are you headed to Cerulean City?" Ben asked.

"Yup!" Amber said, "I just got my boulder badge. Hey, if we're headed in the same direction maybe I'll see you again." With that she left, back on her hunt for the elusive jigglypuff.

"I hope she makes it through the mountain fine on her own," I said. Ben nodded. Packing back up we continued on our way up the trail. Eventually I returned Polaris, the young ponyta growing tired from the rough trail. Welly and Karren followed soon after. The further up we headed the rockier the trail began. I even tripped over a geodude. He was not happy about that, we had to run a little ways to get away from the angry pokemon.

Close to the base of Mt Moon a familiar giggle stopped me in my tracks.

"Mew?" I said. A flash of pink darted through the trees. Ben kept going forward, not yet having noticed I'd stopped.

"Ben," I hissed, "I think Mew's here."

"What?" Ben turned, surprised to see me so far behind. Another flash of pink went by, and unthinkingly I stepped off the trail to get a better look.

"Cara, wait," Ben said. Not paying attention I scoured the area for Mew. Another light giggle caught my attention and I chased after it.

"Wait!" Ben shouted. Pulled into the chase I didn't notice my pokemon following after me warily, or Ben trying desperately to keep up. I just had to catch up, get another glimpse at the legendary pokemon.

The bush I'd been crashing through cleared up, suddenly revealing a large dark cave. Charren's tail barely diminished the darkness. I stopped and stared in surprise.

"Cara, why'd you run off? We're gonna get lost," Ben panted. Wordlessly I pointed at the cave. Ben glanced at it and groaned.

"You want to explore it, don't you?" Glancing at Ben I smirked.

"Course I do." Ben sighed.

"Alright, let's get this over with." We quickly returned our pokemon leaving just Charren for light. With Charren in the lead we entered the cave. Our eyes slowly adjusted to the dim glow as we left daylight behind.

"Hey," Ben said in surprise, "there's footprints here. Fresh ones."

"Really?" I asked. Glancing down I frowned. This cave was pretty far off the main trail. We would have never noticed it if I hadn't been trying to chase Mew.

"Who do you think went through here?" I asked. Ben shrugged.

"No idea." More quietly now we continued forward. The mountain could be dangerous, and I wasn't really interested in finding out how dangerous through first hand experience. Deeper in the tunnel we heard something echo back.

"Did you hear that?" I asked. Ben nodded. We listened to the distorted sound of voices echoing through the cave, one of them vaguely familiar.

"Let me go!" the familiar voice cried. Moving closer we peered around the corner. A couple men dressed in black were holding onto Amber, the girl desperately twisting in their grasp.

"Tell us where you found the moon stone girly," one of the men growled. Amber shook her head. I was impressed she had the guts to refuse them, it wasn't easy standing up to someone when they were hurting you. The man grabbed her by the throat and began to choke her. When she finally began to claw at the man's hands he released her. He laughed darkly.

"Come on, speak up!" the man barked. In the corner close to them there was a cage, a poor clefairy stuffed in it despite it obviously being far too small. Next to the clefairy's cage were six pokeballs, most likely Amber's. Glancing at each other I could see my fear reflected in Ben's eyes. We couldn't just turn away and let these men possibly hurt Amber, (or worse a small part of my mind whispered) but we weren't equipped to deal with this. What could we do? I quickly returned Charren and released Pooka, figuring maybe we could have Pooka shock them into releasing Amber.

"What have we here? Little eavesdroppers!" a voice hissed behind us. Turning around we stared in horror as a woman in a team rocket uniform stepped forward from behind us. Before we could react she had thrown her pokeball releasing a tangela. Quickly she had the tangela tie us up. Pooka leaped clear and tried to strike back, only to be struck by stun spore. He struggled to shake it off, but a sharp kick from the woman had him collapsed on the ground. I gasped and struggled harder, hoping that Pooka was alright. If only I could reach him!

Amber and her two captors looked over to where we were, the woman dragging us over with her tangela. The men saluted her.

"Deena," the man that had been choking Amber said, "we caught this girl trying to catch a clefairy. She had a moonstone with her, but she hasn't revealed where she found it yet." Deena sneered.

"I'd be impressed if you hadn't let two _kids_ sneak up on you. Pay more attention. Now let's see what they got." Deena grabbed a pokeball from my belt. I squirmed. How dare she try to take my pokemon? Deena released Charren, the charmander looking around briefly in confusion before being returned.

"Give her back!" I shouted. The woman just utterly ignored me, going through the rest of our combined pokeballs releasing to see what was inside before quickly returning them.

"Useless," she snapped, "all weak first evolutions. Only the starters have any real value. New trainers, pathetic. Did you think you could actually stand up to Team Rocket with this?" Deena released Leviathan, my poor magikarp flopping weakly on the ground.

"A magikarp!" Deena laughed. "You actually carry a magikarp! How utterly pathetic! That's worse than the caterpie!" My face burned as the other two team rocket members joined in laughing at him. They didn't understand. He could evolve, become a gyarados. He'd be one of my strongest pokemon. Instead they just mocked him. I could hardly see through the red haze clouding my vision.

Deena casually returned Leviathan and dropped our pokeballs with Amber's, not noticing Leviathan's roll a short ways down and burst open, leaving him in a shallow puddle near a small lake the cave opened up to.

"Let us go!" Amber demanded raspily.

"Not until you tell us where you found that moonstone girl," Deena answered coolly.

"What do you want with the moonstones?" I asked, hoping that the question might distract them from what they were doing.

"None of your business," one of the men sneered. I shivered. The team Rocket group moved a short distance away, muttering to each other as they studied the moonstone.

"If we could just get to our pokeballs," Ben muttered, "we might have a chance."

"Too bad the only pokemon are Cara's paralyzed pikachu and that magikarp," Amber commented. She glanced at me. "Why are you carrying such a weak pokemon with you anyways?"

"I'm hoping he'll evolve," I mumbled. If only Pooka could wake up! I glanced at my pikachu sadly. If only the spore was gone...if only I could wash it off. I straightened. That was it! Wash it off! If Pooka got wet the paralyzing spore would wear off. I just needed to get him wet, and surely Leviathan could do that if he splashed Pooka!

"Leviathan!" I whispered. He continued to splash slightly in the puddle he'd found himself in.

"Leviathan, I need you to splash Pooka, please," I whispered. He continued to just flop around. "Leviathan, use splash!" I ordered. Leviathan surprisingly listened, sending a bigger splash, but nowhere near close to Pooka. I sighed hopelessly. Desperately I thought about how to possibly get the message across to Leviathan, how we needed him, how he _had_ to splash Pooka, or we'd all be in trouble.

Leviathan suddenly lunged forward, forcing himself through the water. I stared in surprise as he soaked Pooka. Somehow, in some way, Leviathan had done what I'd wanted him to, despite me not saying anything. Amber and Ben both stared in surprise.

"That was useless," Ben muttered. It looked like it was for a moment, as nothing happened. Yet slowly my wet pikachu pushed himself up shaking himself. It had worked! Getting Pooka wet had made the stun spore wear off! I glanced at my magikarp, wondering how he'd understood what I'd wanted him to do from my earlier command. I'd thought I'd failed. Thankfully Team Rocket hadn't noticed that Pooka was up yet.

"Pooka, get us out of here," I hissed. The electric pokemon sat up and ran over to where we were. Quickly he bit through the vines holding me in place. Tangela squealed in pain drawing Team Rocket's attention. Pooka stood between me and Team Rocket, sparking menacingly. He wouldn't go down so easily now that he was aware of them.

I was tempted to go for the rest of my pokeballs, but they were closer to Team Rocket than me. If I moved they might just grab me again and capture Pooka. It was just the two of us to rely on. Deena snarled and stepped forward, releasing a venonat. Pooka leaped forward, ready to battle.

"Thundershock!" I shouted. Pooka immediately leaped to my command, only for Deena to counter with dodge and a vine whip. Pooka got out of the way, hitting the pokeballs as he darted past. One of them rolled over and hit my foot. Eagerly I picked it up and threw it into battle. It might be unfair, but this was Team Rocket. I wasn't eager to take chances. Thankfully Charren came out, the charmander confused and unhappy. As soon as she saw the battle she looked to me for instruction on what to do. Deena snarled.

"That's cheating, you brats!"

"Like you're gonna play fair," I taunted. "Ember on Venonat," I ordered. Hearing me Pooka cheerfully forced Venonat into a jump that left it vulnerable to Charren's flame. Tangela moved in to help Venonat only to be met by the same fiery force. The plant and bug pokemon burned out the other two team rocket members stepped forward, releasing a machop and magneton.

"Pooka, quick attack! Charren, ember on Magneton!" My two pokemon rapidly obeyed me, forcing the rocket pokemon slightly back. Deena growled, and reached behind her releasing another two pokemon, a grimer and a dugtrio. That wasn't good. Pooka might be able to handle the magneton, and Charren could hold ground against machop. Charren would even be good against a grimer, and burn it up. But a dugtrio? Both of my pokemon were too low leveled to be able to face against one of those.

The clefairy in the cage acted then, waving her fingers back and forth. I recognized the move and tensed. Metronome was renowned for being unpredictable, I had no idea what to expect. Somehow the result was favorable, causing a slash of energy that sliced through the bars, freeing the clefairy. The little pokemon jumped into battle, taking down the magneton.

"Charren, concentrate on the grimer! Pooka, try and take on the magneton," I called. My pokemon answered, Charren eagerly testing her flame against the grimer, slowly evaporating it as Pooka clashed against his fellow electric pokemon. Clefairy happily struck at the magneton, helping to take it down, only to be hit by the machop. In one blow the poor pokemon was knocked out. Seeing the machop about to hit the knocked out pokemon, and perhaps badly damage it, Amber dug into her bag and pulled out a pokeball. Catching it saved the clefairy, but we wouldn't be able to use it for this battle with it so badly hurt.

Just then, dugtrio used take down on Pooka sending him flying across the ground. "No!" I shouted. Unfortunately Charren wasn't doing too well either. Even with the grimer diminished in size she was struggling against it's goo as it began to slowly slide over her, determined to cover her and extinguish her tail. I shivered. If Charren's tail flame went out her life went with her!

A scuffling noise at the entrance drew everyone's attention. Was it more of Team Rocket, coming to back up their team mates? Maybe someone who can help rescue us? Just a wild pokemon? And then it came out, a tiny little farfetch'd.

No one expected the brave bird attack it suddenly launched, taking out magneton and finishing off grimer as it rapidly swerved around. The air slash that took out machop was just as surprising. We all stared in shock as it began to prepare what looked like yet another powerful attack, aiming it this time directly at Team Rocket. Taking the hint they fled, even dropping the moonstone in their haste to get out of here.

"Wow," Amber said, "I didn't think farfetch'ds could be that powerful." We all walked over and silently picked up our pokeballs. My eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets when the farfetch'd suddenly transformed into a simple rattata. We stared at it uneasily. Amber slowly backed away.

"Maybe it's a ditto," she voiced.

"Except normally a ditto has to see the pokemon it's copying, and none of us had a rattata or a farfetch'd out," I muttered.

"A really powerful one," Amber said louder, drowning me out. She didn't look so good. Seemed our encounter with Team Rocket had really shaken her up, and she wasn't up for anything more, even a strange ditto. "I'll see you guys later." Amber turned and hurried down the tunnel. Hopefully she wouldn't pass out from anxiety or anything. I shrugged at Ben and turned back to the strange farfetch'd/rattata. It smiled up at us, and began to glow. The rattata grew in size until it had resumed the pink form I'd only seen once before.

"Mew," Mew said happily.

"Mew!" I gasped, "Thanks for helping us. I thought we were goners!" Mew giggled and flipped slowly over in the air. Ben stared in awe, not really taking in what we were seeing. Mew floated up to me, sniffing at me curiously. I laughed.

"Want another apple, huh?" I dug out half of one and gave it to the playful pokemon. She squealed in delight and happily began to devour it. Pulling out my pokedex I scanned Mew. Sadly for once my pokedex wasn't useful, simply telling me that the pokemon was unknown.

Mew finished off her apple, and floated up to me. She looked at first me, then Ben, and mewed happily. She floated off and looked behind her, waiting for us to follow. Both of us did, still in awe that the legendary pokemon had chosen to appear before us. We followed her out of the tunnels, back into the open air. She didn't leave us there like I'd thought though, instead guiding us along to where we could see the base of a cliff.

Roosting at the top was a beautiful large golden bird, feathers glowing softly. It's tail flowed behind it in a large trail as the bird slept. Raising my camera I silently took a picture. It was beautiful.

The click of the camera woke up the bird. It stared at us. We stood frozen, afraid that we'd upset us. Then with a flutter of it's wings it took off, heading towards a rainbow.

I'm not sure how long we stood there for. When we finally looked around Mew was long gone, and the bird had vanished utterly out of sight.


	6. Chapter 6

The rest of the trip to Cerulean City was tame in comparison to the events in Mt Moon. We continued to train. Karren surprised me one training session evolving into a metapod. I was a little sad to see that happen, as I'd enjoyed having her hanging around as a caterpie, but soon enough she'd become a butterfree. I'd love to see that.

Karren wasn't the only one to evolve. Leviathan surprised me by evolving only moments after Karren did. He had shown more interest in watching the others train after our encounter with Team Rocket but I still hadn't expected him to evolve for some time. There wasn't nearly enough room to contain him, so I had to quickly return him before the giant sea serpent accidentally hurt someone. Cheered by the double evolution I called a break before we arrived at Cerulean, all of us choosing to hang out at a small lake.

The lake was big enough to hold Leviathan so I happily released him into it. The rest of my pokemon eyed him nervously as Leviathan explored his new limits, getting used to his new power. Karren sat next to me. She wasn't really able to play with the others, not as a metapod, but she could at least sit out and enjoy the sun.

Relaxing I watched Leviathan curiously. He had never been too interested in battles as a magikarp, I was hoping that now he was a gyarados he'd be more willing to fight. I glanced over at Ben as he released his own pokemon, his squirtle happily running over to join my own. I sighed and leaned back.

"I wonder where I can get a squirtle of my own," I wondered out loud. Ben glanced at me.

"You could ask Professor Oak where he found them," Ben suggested. I beamed.

"That's a great idea!"

"So will we be challenging the Cerulean Gym tomorrow?" Ben asked. I shook my head.

"I wanna get in a bit more training before we do. Much as I love Charren, I can't use her in a water gym. At least we got plenty of training on Mt Moon." Ben snorted.

"You could call it that." Ben hadn't been too happy with how difficult the wild pokemon had been, the zubats constantly swarming and almost every geodude we came across deciding that it disliked us.

"At least we got to train on different types of terrain," I countered. Ben grumbled but agreed.

"So who do you think you'll use in the gym?" Ben asked. Laying back, I thought about it.

"Pooka of course, he'll probably be my strongest fighter, and I'm thinking Welly and Leviathan since they'll be able to take advantage of the pool we'll be battling at. What about you?"

Ben considered. "I'll use squirtle of course, and I'm thinking nidoran and pidgey as well." I nodded. He didn't have much choice, as sandshrew would be badly weakened by water, and beedrills despite their ferocity were quite frail defense wise. Not a good pokemon for a gym.

"I do wish I can find a squirtle soon," I sighed, "maybe I'll just steal yours." As squirtle darted closely past during the game of tag I grabbed him and quickly began to tickle the turtle. Squirtle squealed and wriggled in my grip laughing the whole while.

Suddenly Leviathan burst out of the water, looming over me and squirtle. Squirtle cowered down shivering under the gaze of the giant water serpent. I stared in shock. What was he doing? Squirtle broke away and ran to hide behind Ben. Leviathan's gaze followed him for a moment before diving back into the water. Ben stared at me.

"What was that? He looked like he wanted to eat squirtle!" Ben exclaimed. I shrugged.

"No clue. He wouldn't harm squirtle though." Ben stared at me as if I'd said the moon was made of cheese.

"You do understand where gyaradoses got their reputation right?" he asked me. I scowled.

"Leviathan's nice!" I protested, "He wouldn't do anything like that!" Ben sighed.

"You just don't seem to get that not all pokemon are nice like most of yours are." Guiltily I looked at Charren. She hadn't attacked anyone since Professor Oak, but she had definitely kept her distance, even from Ben. Still I believed she was a good pokemon. Surely Leviathan would be the same, just as nice once he grew comfortable with his new body.

Leviathan burst out of the water once more, this time holding something in his mouth. It looked an awful lot like…

"Squirtle!" Ben exclaimed. He looked beside him in confusion. Squirtle was still there behind him, hidden in his shell. So where did Leviathan get a second squirtle? Leviathan swung his head tossing the squirtle onto the grass. He retreated back into the water watching us expectantly. Had he been listening? Did he understand that I had wanted a squirtle?

The moment the squirtle realized it was free from the danger of the large gyarados it attacked. Unfortunately the closest one for it to attack was Karren, sadly unable to dodge as a metapod. She went flying across the grass.

"Karren!" I shouted, diving after her. The squirtle turned and sent a sharp blast of water at Ben and his own squirtle. Squirtle caught the blast bravely, protecting Ben from being hit. Furious the wild squirtle quickly withdrew towards the water, only to be met once more by Leviathan. Angry at having its retreat blocked but too frightened to face the gyarados it turned again to attack.

Pooka ran forward to stop the rampaging squirtle only to get hit by a powerful blast of bubbles. The squirtle leaped forward and landed two sharp bites on Pooka before he could recover, knocking him out. I was shocked to see him taken out by a water pokemon. He had an advantage over them! Shouldn't he have been able to stand up to it? Squirtle flinched, a line of static running across it. At least it seemed Pooka's static would slow the squirtle down.

Furious Charren charged over and sharply struck the squirtle forcing it to withdraw into it's shell. Charren flamed the shell trying desperately to hurt the squirtle that had taken out her friend. The squirtle waited until she was out of breath before popping out and knocking Charren back with another watergun.

"Leviathan, watergun!" I shouted desperately. Leviathan just looked at me, not responding.

"Leviathan, attack!" Leviathan snorted and turned back to watching the fight. I bit my lip. I'd heard of pokemon growing more difficult and refusing to battle if they outstripped their trainer in strength too quickly. I just hadn't thought that would happen with Leviathan. He was still friendly after all. I looked around to where Polaris and Welly were watching the fight.

"Polaris, strike it with your hooves," I called. Polaris galloped forward and quickly hit the squirtle. Struck by the sharp hooves it became dizzy, backing up. It tried another blast of water only to be hit by a sharp kick from Polaris, too slowed down to react. "Nice! Hit it again!" Polaris did, this time knocking the squirtle out. I quickly grabbed a pokeball and threw it, capturing the squirtle. For a moment I held the pokeball in my hand, enjoying my triumph, before the pokeball vanished transported to Professor Oak. Right, I was over my limit. If I wanted to spend time with my squirtle I'd have to trade someone over.

We hurried to Cerulean City after that, eager to get to the pokemon center and heal my pokemon. I wanted to exchange one of my pokemon for my new squirtle as well. As soon as my pokemon were healed I stepped over to the PC to take out my new squirtle. I decided to send Welly to Professor Oak's lab, as I didn't need three water pokemon on my team, and I had only just started working with Leviathan. Surely he would get better if I kept working with him. I had believed in him as a magikarp after all, shouldn't I believe in him more as a gyarados?

I released my new squirtle. He looked around suspiciously before settling on me.

"Hey, I'm your new trainer," I told him. The squirtle turned his head away. Not discouraged I pushed forward. "I think I'll call you Hurrico." Still no response. Well, maybe he'd get better with some training. Now that I had my new pokemon with me I wanted to do some training to make sure we were all in shape for the gym. I wanted to work with Pooka especially. He was supposed to be my ace, and he had been knocked out far too easily by Hurrico.

"Shall we get started?" Ben asked. I nodded and we headed back out. I partnered Pooka against Ben's squirtle, with Hurrico cheerfully attacking Pidgey and Nidoran against Leviathan. Leviathan was quickly proving to be exceptionally affectionate for a gyarados, loving being petted, but didn't listen well in battles. It was a good thing he was such a softy or he could be real trouble. Hurrico was impressive in battle, but I personally felt that Pidgey got the most out of the training, as Hurrico still didn't listen to me. At least he listened to my orders more often than Leviathan. It took some time, and Pooka had to do some real speed training, but I felt confident winning my next badge.

I got up bright and early the day I'd decided to challenge the gym. I had my team with me, Ben for support, and I was as confident as I was going to get for the challenge. Now I was ready I wanted to hurry before the butterfrees in my stomach talked me out of it.

I was rather surprised at how beautiful the Cerulean Gym was. It was a stark contrast to the bareness of the Pewter Gym. Three pretty women in swimsuits greeted me inside.

"Welcome," the eldest said, "we're the Cerulean gym leaders. Are you here to challenge us?" I nodded my head. She smiled. "This will be a three on three battle. Each of us will send out one pokemon to battle three of yours. We'll all go at the same time. No substitutions allowed. Got it?" I grinned.

"Got it." The gym leader nodded.

"Go!" She released a seel, her sisters releasing a horsea and a goldeen. I eagerly released Hurrico, Leviathan, and Pooka. Leviathan was more than content to sink into the depths of the pool, barely even visible, while Pooka jumped onto a floating platform with Hurrico beside him.

"Pooka, thundershock!" I quickly called, "Hurrico, tackle horsea. Leviathan, hit seel!" Pooka was quick to act, barely moving faster than the water pokemon. Surprisingly it didn't knock any of them out. Hurrico used a sharp blast of water on the horsea, knocking it further into the water. I didn't see Leviathan at all. The sisters whispered to each other briefly before turning to their own pokemon.

"Seel, dive down!"

"Goldeen, horn attack on the pikachu!"

"Horsea, bubble beam!"

Pooka dodged the horn attack, only to be knocked into the water. He quickly zapped it, forgetting Leviathan was in it's depth. Hurting, the large gyarados reacted quickly, his large tail hitting Pooka and knocking him out. I winced. That wasn't good. At least it looked like the seel had been taken out as well, unable to withstand the thundershock in the water.

I was surprised to see a little bit of fear on their faces when they realized that I had a gyarados. It wasn't like he was dangerous. He wasn't good at listening to me in battles, but he had proved affectionate otherwise.

"Goldeen, take out her squirtle!" one of the sisters called. Hurrico dodged quickly. I grinned. I could still win this.

"Rapid spin on the goldeen, then use bubble beam!" I called. Hurrico used rapid spin, but didn't follow up on bubble beam instead tackling the goldeen. I bit my lip, a little frustrated. At least Hurrico was fighting. The goldeen was tough, but couldn't survive the rapid onslaught. That just left the horsea. Unfortunately it was a tough little bugger, and wasn't going down easily. Hurrico did pretty well until it hit him with icy wind. That finally took my squirtle out. I returned Hurrico, proud of what he'd accomplished.

"It's up to you Leviathan," I said. Hopefully he'd listen. The horsea was exhausted, if Leviathan struck just one blow the match would be over in my favor. If he refused to attack however, I'd have to forfeit the match. I waited almost breathless. One minute passed, then another. I was starting to lose hope when Leviathan surged out of the water. He easily knocked out the horsea, and gently placed it at the gym leaders' feet. They looked shocked.

"Way to go!" I cheered. Leviathan turned around and begged for attention. I obligingly rubbed his head right where he liked it. The gym leaders smiled and the one that had spoken earlier walked over.

"You've done well training your gyarados. Usually they're quite bad tempered," she complimented me. I grinned.

"He's just a big softie really," I told her. She smiled and handed me the badge.

"Congratulations on winning the cascade badge." I smiled widely. I'd done it!

"You might want to spend more time training your squirtle however," she pointed out. I nodded my head a little guiltily.

"I'm not really sure how to get him to listen to me," I confessed.

"Try spending some one on one time with him, that might help," she suggested. I thanked her for her advice, and left. It seemed I still had a lot of work ahead of me to become a good trainer.


	7. Chapter 7

"Alright, now finish it off with Ember!" Polaris blasted fire at the raichu and our opponent, finally beaten, collapsed. Polaris heaved heavily, barely standing herself. It had been our hardest battle yet against Lieutenant Sarge, but we had our next badge.

The trip to Vermillion City had been interesting. Not only had Ben's squirtle evolved into wartortle, but Karren had hatched from her cocoon and was now a butterfree. I couldn't be happier. All of us had grown stronger in our travel. Ben's sandshrew handily took out Lieutenant Sarge's pikachu after I went, and we were headed off to Lavender Town. It was a rather strange place, but I'd heard it was perfect for catching ghost pokemon. They were one of the few pokemon that was good against psychic types, and Ben had been interested in adding one to his team.

I'd heard rumors there were vulpix living along the trail, and had decided to hunt for one for myself. I couldn't help being drawn to the little fox pokemon, they were just so beautiful, and their evolution was even more so. So far though I'd had no luck. I had seen a flash of red a couple times but each time I went to investigate the pokemon was long gone. When I finally caught sight of one darting across the path I broke into a run, Ben and Polaris trying desperately to keep up.

The vulpix wasn't happy about being chased. It darted off into the thickets. I had to push my way through the bushes to keep chasing it. Only intent on catching the pokemon I didn't watch where I was going. The sudden disappearance of the ground caught me completely off guard. I tried to backpedal, only to hit the edge of the cliff with my back. I choked on the impact and began to tumble down. Fear flooded me.

Desperately, I scrabbled for Karren's pokeball. Even if she couldn't carry me she could at least slow my fall. Before I managed to release her though I hit the ground. I closed my eyes, waiting for the pain of the impact to strike me. An ache ran through my body, but it was nowhere near as bad as I'd expected. Cautiously I opened one eye looking up. From above the vulpix I'd been chasing stared at me. It looked like I'd fallen at least a story. Opening the other eye I slowly sat up and looked around. It seemed this green moss had broken my fall.

"Cara!" Ben shouted. The vulpix vanished back around. I groaned in dismay. So much for catching a vulpix. I slowly stood up as Ben appeared with Polaris, both looking rather worried.

"I'm okay!" I shouted, "Some moss broke my fall." Ben sighed in relief.

"You need to be more careful. Stop chasing after pokemon so recklessly," Ben scolded. Ignoring him I looked around. The valley I'd fallen into was quite beautiful. The green moss covered the entire floor, with beautiful flowers and bushes dotting the landscape. The biggest were these giant pink buds surrounding an enormous flower in the center of this wild garden. I stared in awe.

"You have to come down here Ben, it's beautiful," I called. Ben frowned.

"How do you expect me to get down there? I'm not jumping," Ben called. I shrugged.

"Leviathan could lift you down," I suggested. Ben sighed.

"I'll find a way down," he grumbled. Backing away from the edge Ben vanished from sight. Polaris hesitated for a moment before following after him. It seemed neither were willing to let Leviathan take them down. Just as well, he might damage the plants. He was pretty big. Stretching I began to stroll through the garden examining the different plants.

One of the pink buds moved. I stared in surprise. It moved again, this time towards me. Was it a flower pokemon of some sort? I grasped for my pokeballs ready to release one if it appeared necessary. An ivysaur moved forward. I stared in awe. It looked like I'd managed to find a wild ivysaur. That was incredible!

Around me more of the pink buds moved, and I realized the truth. I hadn't found just one wild ivysaur. I'd found an entire herd. They moved toward me, not looking happy about my invasion into the garden. I backed up nervously.

"Easy, I don't want to bother you," I said. The ivysaurs stopped. I thought they were listening to my words, but they only parted to let a huge venusaur through. I stared in awe at the giant pokemon. He was simply beautiful. He rumbled angrily at me gesturing with his vines for me to leave.

"I would, really," I told him, "but I don't know how." Venusaur grumbled for a moment before turning around and walking back. I hesitated for a moment unsure what I was supposed to do. Venusaur turned around and grumbled at me gesturing with his head. Oh, I was supposed to follow him. Trailing behind the venusaur I walked through the garden admiring the beautiful plants. Two large ivysaurs trailed me on either side, clearly looking displeased at seeing me. One of them even growled at me, if the low rumbling it produced could be called a growl. After a moment I could see why. Several of the ivysaurs were tenderly caring for the plants. Here and there bulbasaurs darted about underfoot. They must have been the keepers of this garden. It was so beautiful.

The venusaur stopped in front of a wide path wandering down. It must have been how the ivysaurs and venusaur got in and out of their garden. Ben stood there with Polaris blocked by a couple of large angry looking ivysaurs, Polaris dancing nervously. I waved.

"Hey!" I called. Ben looked at me.

"Did you know your garden's got a herd of ivysaurs in it?" Ben asked sarcastically. I shook my head.

"It's a shame we have to leave, I would love to catch a bulbasaur," I said. Pushed out I looked behind me with some sorrow. It truly was a beautiful place.

A sudden explosion knocked me back. The herd of ivysaurs shook with the explosion. One of them actually stepped forward to attack me, perhaps blaming me for the explosion. I scrambled backwards trying to get out of range.

"It wasn't me," I cried. The venusaur tugged on the ivysaur, and it's attention shifted. The venusaur turned and headed towards the explosion. I glanced at Ben. Something was attacking the herd. Despite how unfriendly they'd acted I still wanted to help.

"We should help," I said.

"What?" Ben exclaimed, "you just got kicked out of there, and almost attacked. What insanity would make you run back towards the danger?" A roar of pain pierced the air. I flinched, hoping that wasn't the venusaur. He was the protector of everyone else after all.

"That," I offered simply. Ben looked concerned now as well, and we pressed forward. Moving through the herd was difficult. Several times we were bumped back, resorting to almost climbing over the ivysaurs. Squeals of pain and fear could be heard beneath the roars of the ivysaurs from the terrified bulbasaurs.

Reaching the front at last I felt nausea build in my throat. The venusaur was dead, butchered. It wasn't the only pokemon that was either. Several ivysaurs were bleeding out, with bulbasaurs cruelly being herded into tight cages. Men wearing the same uniform as those at Mt Moon were directing the operation, dozens of scythers working on attacking the ivysaurs.

"Keep the buds intact!" One of the men barked, "We need to harvest them." I heard Ben wretch as a bleeding ivysaur was sliced into to remove it's bulb. Shakily I reached for my pokeballs. I had to stop this somehow, get rid of the dead pokemon that felt burnt into my eyes. I released Charren, the charmander looking around with some confusion.

"Burn the scythers Charren," I choked, "burn them all." Behind me I heard Ben releasing his own pokemon.

"Wartortle, try knocking out the humans," Ben commanded, "Nidorino, help protect the bulbasaurs." I smiled grimly. That was right. Team Rocket cheats, so we'd cheat back. I released Pooka and Karren as well, the pair looking eager for the fight.

"Karren, sleep powder," I called, "Pooka, shock as many scythers as you can." I watched heart in my throat as they set to work. I really did throw up when I realized Charren had taken my command to heart, and was killing the scythers. The men shouted, disorganized. Some of the scythers began to fight back, but Karren was fast. One by one the humans began to drop. I trembled as a scyther cut into Pooka knocking him out, but a sudden vine attack took out the scyther before it could finish the job. I glanced behind me, glad to see that the ivysaurs were rallying.

It took time, but the last of the scythers were either knocked out or killed. We were lucky that the men weren't expecting resistance beyond the ivysaurs, as it would have gone badly. We returned our pokemon, Charren looking positively pleased with herself if exhausted from the long battle. I turned away as the ivysaurs bound the men I'd knocked out. I didn't want to know what they'd do.

I stared in a daze at the dead pokemon. One bulbasaur was crying softly next to a dead ivysaur. I knelt down and scooped it up. The bulbasaur fought me for a few moments before realizing I wasn't hurting it. It burrowed into my arms seeking comfort. I patted it softly. One of the ivysaurs came towards Ben and I. I tensed, expecting to be attacked. Humans had slaughtered so many of its herd after all, and they had lost their leader.

Instead it rumbled softly, nudging me. It's red eyes were filled with pain. "I'm sorry," I said softly. The ivysaur grumbled again leaning into me. It looked at the bulbasaur I was holding. Gently I held it out. "Here." The ivysaur shook it's head. Rumbling it pressed into me again.

"You want me to keep her?" I asked in disbelief. Slowly the ivysaur nodded. I looked down. This wasn't exactly what I'd had in mind when it came to getting my own bulbasaur. The ivysaur had a point though. The herd was weak, the bulbasaur's mother dead. With me it would be safe. I nodded my head.

"I'll protect her," I promised. The ivysaur looked pleased. Still cradling the bulbasuar I walked over to Ben.

"Ready to leave?" I asked. Ben nodded grimly. He looked at the bulbasaur in some surprise.

"What's with the bulbasaur?" he asked.

"They gave her to me to protect," I explained. Ben sighed.

"Makes sense." We walked out of the garden, the bulbasaur cradled protectively.

"You'll be called Blossom," I said softly, "as that's what you'll do one day. And I'll be with you every step of the way."

A rustle up ahead grabbed my attention. The same vulpix that had lead me off the cliff stepped out, staring at us.

"Oh no you won't," I muttered. I waved Polaris forward.

"Stomp it," I said. Polaris happily obliged. Too quick to be dodged it didn't take long for Polaris to subdue and capture the vulpix. Proud of my capture, I looked to Ben.

"Seems I got my vulpix after all." Ben chuckled grimly.

"Only you Cara, would stumble into trouble and still find something to smile about." I smiled slightly, Blossom warm in my arms. So the massacre had been terrible. I pushed it as far as I could out of my mind, forcing myself to ignore it. There were better things to concentrate on. I had Blossom now, and my very own vulpix to love and cherish. Ben still seemed fairly grim, but I knew we'd be alright.

We had to be. There was no choice.


	8. Chapter 8

Our trip was quieter after our encounter in the ivysaur garden. I spent a good amount of time babying my new bulbasaur, worried about how the massacre had affected her. Ben stuck closer to me than normal, and didn't tease me about getting into trouble the way he usually did after his single joke right after the garden. He seemed to lose himself in his electronics whenever he could. Mostly, I was fine-at least until night came. I never remembered clearly what I dreamed, but it was enough to jolt me awake most nights shivering in fear.

The closer we grew to Lavender Town the more trainers we began to encounter. I began to duel more often preparing my pokemon for when we'd enter the tower and encounter the ghost pokemon. I actually struck lucky in one battle against a trainer. I'd thought I was going to be sick when he sent out a scyther, images of pokemon being shredded by its blades flashing before my eyes. Charren seemed to feel the same distaste as she flared up. Right before my eyes she began to evolve. I cheered as Charren became a charmeleon, more than a match for the deadly bug.

"Alright Charren, cook it," I commanded. Charren cheerfully obeyed the command. The scyther collapsed. Charren didn't let up. Yelling in shock the scyther's trainer returned it to it's pokeball.

"Control your charmeleon!" He yelled, "It almost killed my scyther!" I stared at him coldly, wondering what the deal was. It was just a bug. Killing them didn't matter. My stomach churned and I promptly threw up. Pale and shaky Ben came over to me and watched a little awkwardly, looking slightly nauseas himself.

"Sorry," Ben whispered. The trainer looked slightly worried.

"Hey, are you two alright?" He asked.

"Just fine," I whispered, bile still in my mouth. I looked to Charren and smiled.

"This is great! Charren evolved!" My words didn't wipe the worried expression from the trainer's face. Pushing what had happened aside I petted Charren, praising her for evolving. The trainer looked cross. He quickly left muttering to himself about crazy trainers. Ben dug out his electronics and settled down, content to once more ignore the world around him.

By the time we reached Lavender Town, Ben and I were both completely exhausted and covered in dirt. I headed to the pokemon center, planning on swapping out one of my pokemon so Pexle, my new vulpix, could spend time on the team. I wasn't entirely sure who to swap for that. My team was already pretty loaded with fire types already as well, and I didn't want to unbalance my team too far. I didn't want to get rid of either of them, leaving me uncertain of what to do if I was to spend time with my new vulpix.

Sighing, I chose to send Karren back to the lab. As much as I loved my butterfree, I didn't use her much for battles, making her the only one I could really switch out for Pexle. As soon as our pokemon were taken to be healed we collapsed on the couch in the waiting room, too exhausted to even think about moving any further.

I idly watched as an officer Jenny came into the pokemon center and began talking rapidly with Nurse Joy. I didn't catch much of the conversation, just snatches about a disturbance keeping people from visiting the pokemon graves. I sat up at that.

"Excuse me," I said, "but did you say the tower's blocked off? Why's that?" They both looked at me with some sympathy.

"Something's disturbed the ghost pokemon," Officer Jenny said, "They've started attacking anyone who goes in. No one knows why, especially as they usually hang around on the upper floors, not the lower ones." I frowned. It didn't sound like me and Ben would have much like getting ghost pokemon if they were so upset. Still, I was going to head into that tower and do the best I could. As if reading my mind Officer Jenny glared at me.

"Stay clear of the tower," she warned, "it's too dangerous right now. We have an expert coming in to deal with it, it won't be safe until after then." I nodded, pretending I was alright with this. Ben rolled his eyes. As soon as we had our pokemon back and had grabbed rooms Ben pulled me to the side.

"You're thinking of going anyways, aren't you?" Ben accused. I smirked.

"Of course. We came all this way especially to get ghost pokemon. I'm not going to give up so close to my goal." Ben sighed.

"Guess I'll go with you, try to keep you safe. When are you planning on going?"

"Tonight." Ben gaped at me.

"You are insane," he declared, not for the first time. I grinned.

"Come on, it'll be fun! And we'll have the tower to ourselves," I coaxed.

"We'd have it to ourselves anyway, since no one's supposed to be there," Ben pointed out. I rolled my eyes.

"I just want to get a ghost pokemon and sleep, that's all. Nothing complicated." Ben sighed but grabbed his pokeballs, releasing Nidorino.

"Good idea," I said, and quickly released Pexle. It'd be good to have our pokemon out with us when dealing with the ghost pokemon. No need to make ourselves easy targets. We snuck out of the center and headed straight for the pokemon tower. We had to dodge a patrol car before we reached the front door. I cursed as I saw it was locked. How would we get in?

"We should just turn around," Ben said quietly. I glared at him.

"We're gonna make it inside," I said firmly. It took some work, but I managed to pry the lock open letting us slip in. Inside was deathly quiet. It was eerie looking at the graves of the different pokemon, hunting for something we couldn't see.

"Just think," Ben muttered, "the pokemon aren't just buried below us, but above us too. We're surrounded by graves." I shivered.

"Let's not talk about that," I said, "do you have anything useful to help us?" Ben stared at me.

"You mean you didn't plan for this?" I shook my head. My decision had been rather impulsive. I liked ghost pokemon fair enough, but the pokemon I caught here was going to be more of a back up in case my other plan failed than my main pokemon for the upcoming battle. Ben groaned and dug through his bag pulling out a pair of odd looking binoculars.

"It's called a silph scope," Ben explained, "it lets you see ghost pokemon when they're hiding." I grinned.

"Knew I could count on you."

"Hope you realize how expensive this was," Ben said, "I had to save for a while to get it." I nodded my head. I should have expected something like that. Ben had been planning for a ghost pokemon for a while now after all. Heading further in I tensed waiting for something to happen. The silence was starting to get to me. Maybe I should have waited until morning.

The sudden squealing of Ben's nidorino grabbed our attention. We turned around to see him floating in the air thrashing wildly as he tried to get free. Ben whipped up the silph scope and peered through.

"Two gastly to either side of Nidorino!" he snapped.

"Pexle, use ember on the air around Nidorino!" I called. Pexle quickly obeyed. Something hissed and Nidorino dropped out of the air. The air wavered and the gastlys materialized, looking furious at being disturbed.

"What do you want?" I demanded. The gastlys jabbered sharply. I rubbed my head. It would be easier if they had arms, or anything really, to help point to what they were talking about. All I could make out was that they were really angry we were here.

"Why are you down here? Don't you live at the top level?" I asked, trying again. One of the gastlys drifted closer, humming almost. It felt strangely cold, as if something was being drained from me. I swayed slightly, listening as the gastly bemoaned being driven away from it's home.

"You were driven out? How?" I asked. The officer Jenny had said there was a disturbance. I just hadn't imagined something actually having the power to drive them to the lower levels. Ghost pokemon were quite powerful after all. Only dark types were truly effective against them, and they were extremely rare in Kanto. Usually people only had them if they'd bought them from Johto. The gastly jabbered again. Before I could make an attempt at translating it however Pexle growled, warning me that there was something else here with us.

I spun around, surprised to see a red haired man wearing a cape. He looked furious to see us.

"You shouldn't be here," the man snapped, "it's far too dangerous. Leave now." We both shrunk back at the chastisement. I felt a flush of shame run through me. I had just wanted to catch a ghost pokemon. Not exactly a good reason for sneaking in. From the look on Ben's face he agreed.

"Sorry," I muttered, "but the gastly said something drove them out." Piercing eyes fixed on me. I squirmed under the gaze feeling as if he was staring right through me.

"Something drove them out?" the man asked. The two gastlys nodded. He looked at them consideringly.

"It's just as well I'm here," he said, "I'll take care of whatever drove them out."

"Can we help?" I asked timidly. I felt bad for sneaking in now, and wanted to do something to make up for it. I gestured to the gastlys.

"They were speaking with us earlier, maybe we could ask the ghost pokemon to help fight what disturbed them," I suggested. The man looked at me consideringly. He sighed.

"I appreciate your concern, but I can't let a couple kids get hurt," he said, "please leave." Sighing I nodded. Ben and I headed out of the tower, watching the man go on ahead. As soon as he was out of sight I turned around and headed straight back in.

"What are you doing?" Ben hissed, "the man said to leave!" I glanced at Ben.

"The ghost pokemon were driven out. They need our help," I said, "I'm not just going to walk away from that." The air shimmered again, and the two gastlys that had appeared before rematerialized. I grinned.

"See? They want us to help." The gastlys nodded, grinning ethereally. Ben sighed.

"Alright, but I'm blaming you if we get in trouble." I laughed.

"Do you ever not?" As silently as we could we began to sneak up to the top of the tower, our two gastlys acting as guides. No other ghosts bothered us, though more than one appeared to ask our gastlys what they were doing. We ended up with quite a parade of ghosts following us, eager to reclaim their home.

Reaching the top level we crouched behind a gravestone and peered over the edge. Several people dressed in a familiar black uniform bustled about, computers set up along one of the walls. I frowned.

"Team Rocket," I hissed. Seemed they were behind the disturbance. Several houndours were with them pacing back and forth restlessly. So that's how they had managed to drive out the ghost pokemon. But what could they possibly want with a pokemon graveyard?

"Wow," Ben whispered, "those programs they're running, they're far more complicated than anything I've ever seen." I looked at the computer in awe. Coming from Ben, who'd cracked open his pokedex and worked it out, that meant something.

The ghost pokemon suddenly vanished. Startled I jumped.

"Intruders!" someone shouted. Grabbed, Ben and I were roughly dragged forward. Hitting the ground I coughed trying to catch my breath. I watched as Pexle and Nidorino quickly vanished into the shadows most likely following the ghost pokemon. The man that had caught us cursed angrily at losing them.

"At least I have the brats," he grumbled. A couple others came over and helped to tie us up. Strapped to a gravestone I glared defiantly at them.

"So you thought you would sneak around here without consequences, eh?" the man who caught us sneered, "Why are you here?"

"We wanted to know why the ghost pokemon were so upset," I said. Completely true. We wouldn't have come up here if I hadn't wanted to help the ghosts so badly after feeling bad about just wanting to catch one. I should have been better than that. Behind the man I could see the familiar man that had warned us away at the bottom of the tower downloading information off the computer. Seemed he was taking advantage of the fact they were caught. He looked at us. I gulped. He looked furious.

"Well, since you went through all the trouble of coming here, guess you'll just have to stay here," the team rocket member sneered. I gulped as he drew out a pokeball. I didn't want to die today! I had too much left to do!

Suddenly I felt myself lifted into the air. I squealed in panic seeing Ben float up to my left. We were both pinned to the ceiling utterly helpless. From the fury on the faces of the Rockets below I knew it wasn't their idea. Two gastlys suddenly materialized. They must have been the ones that had helped us get up here! Snarling the leader of the group commanded his pokemon to attack. Pexle and Nidorino leaped into the fray, doing their best to hold back the dark pokemon the ghosts couldn't fight against. Without the dark pokemon able to properly focus on them the ghost pokemon easily slipped through and began to wreck havoc among the encampment. Any time one of the dark pokemon tried to target a ghost they were hit with fire from Pexle or acid from Nidorino.

I worked quickly to loosen the ropes holding me and release my own pokemon to help. The man that had told us to turn away had joined the battle as well, trying to keep the rockets from escaping. I was shocked to see a dragonair be released. Those were incredibly rare, where had that man gotten one?

The chaos finally settled down, most of the rockets gone with a handful being tied up by the man with the dragonair. He had to be a really good trainer to be able to control one of those. Slowly we floated down from the ceiling the gastlys continuing to hang around us. The man glared at us.

"Following me was a very foolish thing," he snapped, "you could have been killed." I looked at the ground.

"We just wanted to help," I muttered. He sighed.

"I get that, I do, but you need more than a couple badges to take on Team Rocket." I glanced over at the computer.

"Did you find out what they were doing at least?" I asked. The man ran a hand through his dark red hair.

"Some. They were doing research on three of the pokemon buried up here. What an eevee, alakazam, and ditto have in common is beyond me." I glanced at Ben. He shrugged, drawing as big a blank as I was. The man stood back up.

"You should leave. They might still come back, and the police will be coming here to arrest the people I caught." I nodded and we started back down the stairs. It was only near the bottom that I realized we still had escorts. The two gastlys from earlier were right behind us.

"You have your home back now," I told them. The gastlys grinned. The one that had pulled something out of me earlier glided forward. I shivered as the cold pull washed over me again. The gastly murmured his thanks for our help, relieved all was back as it should be. I frowned, feeling myself piecing together what was being said. Thanks was obvious, as was the relief. The next part was confusing, a murmur of gratitude mixed with leaving.

"You want us to leave now?" The gastly shook his head and gabbled again.

"You are leaving?" The gastly nodded and bumped against me.

"Wait, you want to go with us?" The gastly shrieked in happiness spinning around. I grinned. It looked like we'd gotten our ghost pokemon after all.

"That's fine with me." Ben grinned.

"Alright! I'm gonna love this," Ben said. He threw a pokeball quickly capturing one of the gastlys. I caught the other, the gentle ping before it disappeared telling me it had been sent to Professor Oak. I grinned widely. We might not have been much help, but we got our pokemon, and we helped fight the dark pokemon the ghosts couldn't. It was a trip well spent.


	9. Chapter 9

Before we left Lavender Town we found out the road to Saffron City was currently blocked. We didn't get the details of how, but it ended up sending us on a detour to Celadon City instead. Ben had been excited taking the route. Wild growlithes roamed it, and Ben was a big fan of the fire pokemon. He had run all of us practically ragged trying to keep up with him on his search. Eventually we found a half grown growlithe, just leaving the puppy stage, for Ben to catch. Wartortle weakened her easily, and Ben could now say he had a growlithe of his own.

I stuck close to Ben as we headed to the pokemon center, wishing we were still out on the road where I could just let my pokemon out with me. I felt so exposed out in the city, too many people crowded around and giant buildings turning the place into a maze. Ben glanced at me with some concern, keeping close to me. He knew I wasn't a big fan of cities. I could only hope they didn't get much bigger than this.

Checked into the safety of the pokemon center I let out a huge sigh of relief.

"Let's hurry and train so we can challenge the gym," I muttered. The faster we beat the gym the faster we could head back out of here.

"Relax," Ben said. He selected a couple pokeballs and we both headed out to a training field Nurse Joy had told us was available. Taking a side each we watched each other closely, trying to read our opponent. At the exact same time we released our pokeballs, revealing Wartortle and Hurrico. We burst into laughter.

"Copycat!" Ben shouted. I shrugged, unable to stop grinning.

"Watergun," Ben ordered.

"Withdraw!" I shouted. Both pokemon rapidly followed the orders. Wartortle charged forward and tackled Hurrico's shell, sending it sliding across the field. Dizzy Hurrico pushed himself back up shaking his head.

"Use your own watergun, then tackle!" I called.

"Dodge it!" Ben shouted. Wartortle nimbly dodged the weaker watergun and stood his ground. As Hurrico tried to tackle him Wartortle caught him with a headbutt. This wasn't going so well for me. Hurrico pushed himself up once more refusing to give in. Wartortle hit him again, but once more Hurrico rose up. This time a soft glow emanated around him.

I gasped as the light swelled and faded, revealing another wartortle. Hurrico had evolved! Determined to keep going Hurrico struck with a powered up watergun. Wartortle dodged it and hit Hurrico one more time. This time he fell and didn't get back up. I could care less that I'd lost the battle though. Hurrico had evolved! Ben grinned as he returned Wartortle.

"Congrats," he said. I nodded as I returned Hurrico and started walking back to the pokemon center. Hurrico needed some healing after that battle.

"Thanks, I can hardly believe he evolved!" Ben grinned.

"Course he did. You've done well training him." I blushed under his compliment. Back in the pokemon center we settled in for the evening, ready to challenge the gym the next day.

The Celadon Gym was quite different from the others we'd been to before. The inside was a complete jungle. We had to weave around tons of plants as we worked our way towards where we suspected the gym leader would be, and I was positive we got turned around more than once. It was beautiful, almost tropical, but I had to say I preferred the other gyms where it wasn't so easy to get lost.

We finally reached the center where the gym leader sat wearing a beautiful formal dress.

"Welcome," she said, "I am Erika, leader of this gym. Are you here to challenge me?" We nodded. I nudged Ben in the side.

"You can go first," I muttered. Ben nodded and stepped forward. Erika's eyes swept over us both.

"You have a choice of a two on two pokemon battle, or a simple one on one battle," Erika informed us.

"One on one please," Ben requested. Erika nodded her head and released his pidgey. Erika tossed her own pokeball out releasing a weepinbell. I swallowed. Hopefully the type advantage would let Ben win against an evolved pokemon.

"Bury everything in a sandstorm, Pidgey!" Ben called. His pidgey flew up and quickly began to whip up a storm, blinding everything. I had to squint my eyes against the sand. Nothing was visible. Just above I could make out the faint glow of an evolution. A pidgeotto's shriek pierced through the air as Ben's newly evolved pokemon dove into the sandstorm. I grinned. Looked like Ben would have a good chance after all. Surprisingly Erika was as calm as she had been in the start. She tossed her head lightly.

"Don't think," she said, "that just because you have a type advantage you'll win." The sand began to settle. Ben gasped seeing his pidgeotto fast asleep below the weepinbell. It looked like they had taken advantage of the sandstorm to keep the pidgeotto from seeing the sleeping powder cast into it. Ben had lost. Looking rather dejected he returned his pokemon. Feeling nervous after seeing Erika win against Ben so easily I stepped forward. I thought about what I could pick to try and combat the powders Erika would probably use.

"Polaris, go!" I called. Erika smiled and calmly threw her own pokeball releasing a gloom. I shuddered slightly. Glooms were well known for having a stench so powerful it could immobilize opponents. We'd have to keep our distance here.

"Stay back Polaris!" I called. Polaris tossed her head prancing a short distance back.

"Gloom, poison powder," Erika almost sang. Gloom shook herself sending poisonous spores into the air.

"Burn them out," I called. Polaris reared up and shot out fire, her flamethrower devastating the area. Gloom pressed against the wall trying to keep out of the way of the flames. As soon as it settled Gloom dove into some bushes.

"Burn the bushes to find Gloom Polaris!" I called. Erika smiled.

"You should take care to not shout out your commands to your opponents," Erika said cheerfully. I whipped my head back to where Polaris was burning the bushes. But there was something odd about the smoke...a shine that shouldn't have been there…

"Polaris, get out of there!" I shouted desperately. Polaris whinnied, but it was too late. The stun spore Gloom had hidden in the smoke had struck Polaris. I clenched my teeth.

"There's more to battling than brute strength," Erika said, "when your opponent relies on strength alone it leaves many openings for a pokemon with a type disadvantage to get in there and win." I lowered my head. I'd been overconfident. It would take a miracle to win now, and Erika had proven herself to be no pushover.

Suddenly a massive explosion cut the air shaking everything. I looked around in surprise.

"What was that?" Ben exclaimed. Erika quickly returned her Gloom.

"This match is postponed. As gym leader I must see to my town first." She quickly hurried out of the gym. I returned Polaris and followed behind, too curious to remain back.

"Wait!" Ben shouted, "This could be dangerous!" We rounded a corner to find a building on fire. Erika cursed. Specializing in grass pokemon she had no way to help control the flames. But we did. Grinning I quickly sent out Leviathan and Hurrico. Ben copied me sending out his wartortle.

"Water gun on the building!" I shouted. The water pokemon quickly complied, Leviathan's watergun outmatching the two wartortles. It didn't take long until the building was soaked, the flames put out. I returned my two pokemon and followed as Erika hurried into the building, too distracted to tell a couple of kids to stay back.

It looked like a casino. The inside was thoroughly destroyed. Strangely it was deserted, completely empty. A groan made me revise my opinion. We rushed over seeing a man barely moving underneath a large vending machine.

"You shouldn't be here," Erika warned finally noticing us. She ordered out a large venusaur who easily lifted the vending machine away. As soon as it was clear Erika knelt down, checking the man's pulse. He groaned faintly. My attention fell away from the man, staring at the strange passage most of the explosion had come from. A knocked out electrode laid in the center of it.

"What's that?" I asked. Erika glanced up from the injured man. I pointed to the strange corner. Her lips pursed.

"That isn't supposed to be there," Erika said. Drawn to the strange passageway I wandered down into it. Erika was too busy with the injured man to stop me from wandering further. Ben trailed behind nervously, a hand near his pokeballs in case we got into trouble. The tunnel widened after a short time, revealing cracked lab equipment and shattered computers.

"An underground lab?" I asked, puzzled. What would one be doing here? I looked at a screen, part of a document still visible on the flickering monitor. A picture of mew sat in the top left corner.

 _The p...ke…... is said to be the most powerful …... Rumored to be the a…...stor of all p…..mon Mew has the …. master every move kn….n by pokemon and tra…..orm into their …...uch lik…... ditt….. ….utstrips A….zam in psychic ...wer ….e to alter the ….. fa….c of ….al...y. ….id to be extinct th…... rumors of sca…...red sightings bely the fact …..t. Orders a….f the p...nt...m …. or it's DNA …...c….at….g a clone, …..Two, with s….erior c….abi….es to foll…...com…... of Team …...w's location remains ….nown._

 _-R_

My grip tightened on the document. Team Rocket was doing research on Mew. I highly doubted whatever they were planning was going to be nice towards the cheerful legendary. Still, Mew should be able to avoid them. She was legendary after all, she could look after herself.

Still, as I left the room, I couldn't help worrying about what might happen in the future…


	10. Chapter 10

It was a couple days later after the explosion leading to the team Rocket hideout being revealed that Ben and I returned to the gym to challenge it once more. When I wasn't thinking about the mystery of what Team Rocket wanted with Mew, I trained my pokemon with Ben so we wouldn't be caught off guard again. By the time we returned I felt confident we could get the badge.

The additional training worked. This time Polaris managed to win, and Ben's pidgeotto used his gust ability to keep the dangerous powders clear allowing him to win in his battle. Pleased we claimed our badges and returned to the pokemon center. Finding the path to Saffron City clear we headed out once more, only the smallest lingering regret of not being able to find out what Team Rocket was planning or any way to fight against them.

We trained on the way to Saffron City. Sabrina would be the hardest gym yet with her psychic pokemon, and our gastlys were our only pokemon with any real chance against the psychic pokemon. Blossom evolved into an ivysaur during our training. We celebrated with a picnic despite a small part of me feeling queasy seeing Blossom looking so much like the ivysaurs that had died. I almost wished she'd taken longer to evolve. Eventually we reached the city. It dwarfed everything we'd seen yet, only the mountains matching in size. I felt positively lost inside it, sticking to Ben's side like glue.

We walked through Ben leading the way since he knew which direction to head in. I was surprised when we arrived outside what looked kind of like a gym, except it wasn't like the psychic gym I'd seen pictures of.

"Ben?" Ben smirked mischievously.

"Did you know there's two gyms in Saffron City?" Ben asked casually. I gawked at him.

"No, there's only one gym, the psychic gym. The one we've been training for. Remember?" Ben shrugged.

"Only one official one, but there's another one as well. It never qualified for being part of the league but it's quite good. It specializes in fighting pokemon." I looked at the gym with some curiosity.

"So we could get an unofficial badge here. That's interesting, but I thought we were planning on going to the psychic gym?" Ben grinned.

"Thought we could use some extra training here. Psychics are extra hard. Besides, since when do you turn down a challenge?" Scowling I punched Ben in the shoulder.

"I don't. Alright, let's go challenge this gym." We entered the gym. I was shocked to see a human sparring against a pokemon in a ring. Pokemon are way stronger than humans. Someone could easily get hurt doing that. Yet it seemed that the human was actually holding his own! Was...was the fighting pokemon helping him spar?

"Welcome!" a loud voice boomed. I jumped slightly, turning to see a massive human walking over to us. He smiled widely.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to spook you," he apologized, "welcome to my gym. How may I help two fine, young trainers such as yourselves?"

"We're here to challenge the gym leader," I said. The man boomed with laughter.

"I should have known! I'm the gym leader here, m'name's Bruce. And you have challenged the master of fighting pokemon." For a moment his face grew more grave. "We believe in pokemon and humans working together here, fighting side by side. If you get in trouble you should be able to help fight your way out, and not just rely on your pokemon. We offer a basic self defense course to those challenging our gym for that. If you wanna challenge me feel free to take it, along with a pokemon of your choice. Course, has to be bipedal to do the kicks and punches we teach here."

Ben didn't look too impressed, but I grinned widely at the offer. The chance to be able to fight beside my pokemon sounded awesome. I couldn't really blame Ben for being more reluctant. He was more of a strategist and a thinker than someone who leaped into action. It was part of why we balanced each other out so well. Ben kept me from running head first into danger without thinking things through(or at least tried to) and I helped him turn his brilliant ideas into action.

Ben gritted his teeth. It was clear he wasn't looking forward to this the way I was, but he still released his wartortle. I hummed for a moment going over my choices. Really I could only choose between Charren and Hurrico. Charren would be my best choice, but I was worried about how she would react. She had been getting better acting around humans but was more temperamental than before with her evolution. After thinking about it I decided to take the risk and sent Charren out.

She huffed, looking a little uncomfortable around Bruce, but otherwise calm. Pleased with her demeanor I shifted my attention back to the gym leader. He started by showing us some basic punches, demonstrating how to hit without damaging your hand. We mimicked him carefully, Charren watching uneasily before trying herself. She seemed pretty content once she got the punch down, and warmed up considerably towards the gym leader.

"Now we'll do some basic blocks. All well and good to know how to hit, but you gotta know how to take a hit as well." Blocking wasn't as easy. Both Ben and I got knocked down several times. We'd have bruises for tomorrow from being hit. Ben's wartortle did surprisingly well with the blocks. That was probably because he was built so heavily for defense in the first place. Charren wasn't as happy about learning the blocks but still followed along. We were exhausted at the end of the lesson, panting and leaning against the wall.

"Alright," Bruce said, "that's enough. If you want to learn more ask any fighting pokemon. You own any?" He peered at Ben and I as if he could see into our pokeballs and tell what we had. We shook our heads wearily. Bruce shrugged.

"If that ever changes we're free to help. Now ready for your battle?" We nodded eagerly, Ben still breathing heavily from the training.

"We'll have a match using the pokemon you just trained. They are fit for battle, right? You'll fight together against my two pokemon, Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan." We nodded in agreement. Charren eagerly stepped into the ring ready to test herself against Bruce's pokemon, her wartortle partner climbing in more slowly. Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan were released into the ring. For a long moment all four pokemon sized each other up, none of them moving. Then in a flash they began to move.

Hitmonchan launched forward, Charren and Wartortle scattering as they automatically dodged. Immediately Hitmonlee appeared in front of Charren. Desperately Charren ;unched at the pokemon, only to be dodged and kicked hard into the side of the ring. Wartortle fared little better as Hitmonchan dodged his kick and struck him hard with a thunderpunch Both pokemon dazed they struggled to pull themselves together and defend against the double strikes coming at them.

"This isn't working," I said. Frustrated I ran a hand through my hair.

"I have an idea," Ben said, "Charren, Wartortle, switch places!" They listened, changing position just as Hitmonchan and Hitmonlee came in for another double hit. Facing opponents they weren't expecting they were unable to pull back. Charren easily absorbed the electrical punch thanks to her earlier training, roaring in anger and headbutting in retaliation. Wartortle easily ducked the punch and launched into a rapid spin. Both damaged Bruce's pokemon fell back.

"Charren, attack Hitmonchan! Wartortle, be ready to intercept!" I shouted. Using their own strategy against them they attacked, knocking the fighting pokemon even further back. The battle was draining, but with Charren and Wartortle now working in sync we managed to win the battle. Roaring with pride Charren stomped her feet.

"We did it!" I shouted. Bruce let out a deep booming laugh.

"Well done! Here's your prize." Bruce handed over a pair of black belts. "It helps to focus fighting pokemon and make their blows even more powerful." We grinned, accepting our prizes and heading back out.

"This is great," Ben said, "now we just need to train up for Sabrina's gym." I hummed noncommittally. Ben summoned his gastly and looked at me expectantly, waiting for me to release my own pokemon so we could start training.

"Actually," I said, "my gastly's kind of my back up plan." Ben blinked in shock.

"Back up plan? Back up for what?"

"My abra." Ben blinked. He blinked again.

"Cara," Ben said slowly, "you don't have an abra." I blushed deep red.

"I know," I said, " but there's supposed to be abras in the area. I can catch one and train it to fight against Sabrina for me." Ben smacked his forehead.

"Do you know how difficult abras are to catch? They're extremely hard to catch off guard, and masters at teleporting. Not to mention how difficult they are to train. Only psychics who can communicate on their level have an easy time controlling them. Otherwise a trainer has to be really strong to get their attention." Huffing I crossed my arms.

"I know all that, but I still want one." Ben sighed. He could tell there was no talking me out of this.

"Fine. I'll train while you search for your abra. Just try and be careful for once." I nodded in agreement and released my pokemon. Polaris, Pexle, Pooka, Charren, and Hurrico gathered around me. "Hey everyone. We're searching for an abra, so spread out and call me if you see one." They eagerly nodded and headed out over the field.

The entire day was spent chasing after my pokemon as they called alerts for abras. By the end of the day I was exhausted, dirty, and still short one abra. Ben chuckled as he watched me wearily drag myself into the pokemon center.

"No luck?" I shook my head, too tired to talk. I dropped asleep instantly on the bed.


	11. Chapter 11

The next few days were pretty much a repeat of the first. Ben trained his gastly, I hunted for abra with no success, and we met up to sleep at the pokemon center. The only thing that broke the monotony of the days as I combed for the elusive pokemon was when Ben informed me his gastly had evolved into a haunter. I knew if I'd spent time training my own gastly he could have been one by now as well. Frustrated I tried to shut him out as I once more set out to find an abra. Wandering around I noticed a small animal tunnel through a set of thick brambles.

I'm not sure if it was inspiration or pure desperation that had me crawling through there. Whatever it was I paid for it with scratches on my arms before emerging into a small covered area where an abra laid resting.

I bit my lip. This wasn't my first abra. I had encountered a couple others, but each time they had vanished teleporting away before I managed to catch them, scared off by my pokemon. Well, my pokemon weren't here, and this one was still asleep. I had one shot at this. Carefully I dug out the great ball I'd saved up for. The abra's ear twitched. It was waking up! Quickly I threw the pokeball. It struck the abra.

The ball shook violently as the abra fought the confines. _Please,_ I thought desperately, _let this work._ The ball gave a few more shakes, and finally...fell still.

I had caught an abra! Whooping with excitement I picked up the pokeball dancing around. I hurriedly climbed back out and recalled my pokemon. I raced back to where Ben was training.

"Ben! Ben!" Ben turned to me and suddenly turned pale.

"Cara! What happened?" He rushed to me and grabbed me in a hug. "Are you alright?" Confused I pushed him back.

"I'm just fine. Why?"

"Why?" Ben looked bewildered. He rubbed a hand on my forehead and pulled it away showing blood on it. I looked at it blankly.

"I'm bleeding?" Ben nodded.

"Did you hit your head while out there?" Ben asked. I shook my head.

"No. I must have scratched myself trying to get out of the brambles." Ben stared.

"What were you doing in a bramble patch?"

"Would you believe catching an abra?" I asked sheepishly holding out my abra's ball. Ben looked at it and sighed.

"Only you Cara," he muttered hitting his head lightly, "Well, let's see this abra you've caught." I released abra. The pokemon seemed to have fallen straight back into the sleep I'd caught it in. I scanned the pokemon. He was a young male. I grinned in excitement. Ben whistled.

"That's pretty good." I almost bounced in excitement as I moved up to my new pokemon.

"I'll call you...Kinesis. Kinesis, wake up! Time to train!" Kinesis didn't move. I frowned.

"Kinesis?" Still no response. I reached over and shook Kinesis' shoulder. Blearily the abra pushed me away, still not waking up.

"Kinesis, you need to wake up. We need to train!" Still nothing. No matter how I begged, pleaded, or shouted, my new abra slept through it all. I got a feeling that the pokemon was almost amused by my attempts. Frustrated I chewed my lip. Ben sighed.

"Looks like you might have to use your gastly after all."

"No way!" I snapped, "Not after all this! I'm going to find a way to train Kinesis. Just you wait." Determinedly I scooped Kinesis up and marched off, looking for a place where I could work on getting my newest pokemon to listen to me in private.

As soon as we were in private I sat my abra back down. He was surprisingly heavy to carry. I probably should have returned him first, but I'd been so frustrated I'd just picked him up. I stared at Kinesis. I'd tried yelling, shaking, pleading, almost everything I could think of. There had to be _something_ that he would respond to.

 _What am I missing?_ I wondered. Again a feeling of amusement tickled at me. I paused. I wasn't feeling amused. Not in the slightest. I was frustrated and a little embarrassed actually. So why did I feel that thread of amusement? The feeling repeated itself, stronger this time. I looked around. There was only me and Kinesis. So if I wasn't feeling amused…

I stared at my pokemon. _Kinesis?_ I thought. For a moment I thought I'd gone crazy. Then laughter bubbled in my mind.

 _*Yes?*_ I blinked in shock.

 _You're...you're…_ Amusement tickled at me again. I frowned.

 _Why were you ignoring me?_ Now that I knew for sure Kinesis had been the one behind the feeling of amusement I'd been catching I knew that he'd been listening while I tried to wake him up.

 _*Sleepy. Quiet when not speaking like this.*_ I blinked. Speaking like this? Speaking like what? Through thoughts?

 _You were ignoring me because I wasn't thinking words at you?_

 _*Yes.*_ I sighed. Looked like this pokemon would be every bit as difficult to control as Ben had warned me. Well I'd unlocked the key now, and I wasn't going to turn back. I grinned.

 _Time to start training Kinesis._ Another laugh came from the abra. Eagerly I began to lay out my strategy for defeating Sabrina's gym.

It wasn't until a week later that I felt confident in facing Sabrina. I'd missed Ben's match, but from what he'd said she was tough. I was really nervous. Psychic pokemon were extremely difficult to fight against. If Kinesis fell through I would have only my untrained gastly to rely on to carry the battle, and I doubted that would go very well.

The gym leader stepped forward. Sabrina was different from the other gym leaders we'd faced. Somehow, despite her beauty and petite demeanor, she was...frightening. I couldn't name what it was but she gave off this air of being far more powerful than she looked. Perhaps it was simply something that came with being a psychic but it gave me the chills. Ice blue eyes looked at me. Sabrina smiled.

"Welcome. A one on one match if you wish?" I nodded silently not quite able to make myself speak. We walked to opposite sides of the field and Sabrina released her alakazam. I gulped staring at it. I had trained hard with Kinesis, but could he really match an alakazam?

No time to back out now. If I walked away I was afraid I'd never get the courage up to return. Taking a deep breath I released Kinesis. His ears twitched slightly and he shrank back at the sight of the alakazam.

 _It'll be fine,_ I thought at him, _just do as we practiced._ Kinesis quickly teleported across the field and began to prepare a psyshock. Faster than I could blink the alakazam was there and slammed into Kinesis.

"No!" I shouted. Kinesis wavered half standing up only to be slammed by another psychic blast. Kinesis collapsed. Silently I returned him to his pokeball.

"Come back when your abra is properly trained," Sabrina said emotionlessly. I nodded and left the gym. Ben stood outside waiting for me.

"So how'd it go?" Ben asked.

"I...I lost." Ben pulled me into a comforting hug as tears trailed down my face.

"Sorry to hear that," Ben murmured, "but you must admit you were badly underprepared." I stiffened and shoved Ben away.

"I tried my best!" I shouted. Ben held up his arms.

"Whoa, calm down Cara," Ben said, "I didn't mean anything bad. I just meant that an abra against an alakazam was a poor match up." I glared at him wishing he'd burst into flames.

"So you're saying I'm stupid for having believed in my pokemon? Kinesis can beat Sabrina!"

"Not without a whole lot more training," Ben retorted, "You need to see that. Sabrina's an expert on psychics. You just caught Kinesis." Of course he would shove the blame on me. Of course he would think that I wasn't taking this seriously. He didn't believe I'd tried.

"Please. You only won with your worthless pokemon because you cheated!" Spinning away I ran to the pokemon center. I'd show him and Sabrina what Kinesis could do. I'd prove them both wrong.

As soon as Kinesis was healed I headed back to the grasses and released him. Kinesis peered around sleepily.

 _*Did we win?*_ I shook my head slowly.

 _*Oh...sorry.*_ Kinesis drooped, looking as upset as I'd felt at our loss.

"Don't be!" I quickly soothed, "You were facing an alakazam! They're powerful! If it's anyone's fault it's mine, for...not...training you enough..." Kinesis tilted his head on confusion and prodded at my mind. I flashed a smile at the abra before sitting down. Ben had been right. I had been underprepared. It hadn't been fair of me to expect Kinesis to win with so little training. If I had taken Sabrina more seriously like Ben said, maybe we wouldn't have lost.

There was really only one answer to winning the marsh badge now. We'd train until we dropped. I nodded firmly and looked at my abra.

 _We'll train until we're ready this time,_ I thought at him. Kinesis nodded, and we began to work.

The training was exhausting. Every day we went out and Kinesis would practice his psychic abilities until he was doing it in his sleep. I had the rest of my pokemon working as well, Kinesis learning to shield against Polaris and Charren's fire attacks and the rapid teleportation required for dodging Pooka. All of them grew stronger. The only thing keeping me from being truly happy was Ben's silence. It seemed he hadn't forgiven me for snapping at him. I needed to apologize-and I _planned_ to... but I was so busy.

It was hard to tell if I was so busy I was missing Ben or if I was busy to avoid Ben. I saw Ben in the evenings, his own pokemon looking stronger from their own training, but we didn't talk. I could only believe Ben would forgive me because he hadn't left the city. The only reason to stay would be to wait for me.

My mad training paid off, as Kinesis evolved into a kadabra after a month. I cheered like mad at the sight. We were almost ready to take on Sabrina! I just needed some kind of edge over the alakazam, but what? My battling had always been raw instinct. Ben was the strategist. A lump formed in my throat. I couldn't keep avoiding Ben. I had to tell him I was sorry and ask for his help. It was past time I did that.

I still dragged my feet as I returned to the pokemon center that evening. No matter how necessary it was I was dreading having to speak to Ben. What if he was still angry? What if he wouldn't help? What if things were super awkward? I forced myself to push that aside and knocked on Ben's door. Ben opened it, easy going brown eyes staring down into my own. I felt even smaller than normal as Ben blinked in surprise. He frowned and crossed his arms.

"Cara," he said evenly.

"Ben." We both stood there, silence heavy in the air. I shifted slightly. I had known it was going to be hard, but not this hard. I tugged on my hair nervously.

"About...um...Sabrina...and what you said," I forced out. Ben waited steadily his expression not even twitching.

"I'm sorry," I blurted out. Ben's frown deepened.

"You can't be that sorry if it took you so long to apologize."

"I actually realized I was wrong after I took Kinesis to be healed, but I didn't know how to say it, and the longer I waited the harder it got," I explained, "I guess I was just hoping things could go back to normal without doing anything."

"That was stupid," Ben pointed out. I flushed.

"I know that," I snapped. I took a deep breath. Losing my temper wouldn't help anyone.

"I really am sorry," I repeated, "I was being stupid." Ben nodded, and broke into a grin.

"I've missed hanging out with you."

"Same." I quickly pulled Ben into a hug. Things were finally right again. Letting go I stared at the ground.

"Do you think you could help me beat Sabrina?" I asked, "You already managed it, and I can't really think of any strategies Kinesis can use against an alakazam."

"You need something to surprise Sabrina with your abra?" Ben said.

"Kadabra now." Ben grinned.

"Congrats. That'll make it easier." Ben stepped into his room waving for me to follow. I trailed after him fingering my pokeballs.

"Surprising Sabrina with a kadabra won't be easy," Ben muttered, "not with her expertise. Perhaps if your kadabra was taught a non-psychic move?" I bolted up, inspiration striking me.

"Can kadabra use dark type moves?" Ben grinned.

"A couple. Sounds like a plan. Haunter can show your kadabra some of his moves." The rest of the evening was spent looking up various moves that Kinesis could possibly pick up on. Eventually I settled on shadow ball. If Kinesis could master the sharp blast of energy I would be sure to win over the alakazam.

Ben came with me the next morning as I headed out to the area I'd been using for training. I released Kinesis and looked at the kadabra. Concentrating I tiringly managed to connect with the psychic pokemon.

 _Ben's haunter is going to teach you shadow ball._ Distaste rolled off the kadaba. I frowned. I knew psychics didn't get along with ghost pokemon, but this was necessary.

 _You'll be able to beat the alakazam if you learn it,_ I pleaded. Kinesis reluctantly nodded. Hopefully he'd stick with it.

"Okay, he's agreed," I told Ben. He nodded and released his haunter. The ghost dove into Ben's shadow vanishing save for the slightly deeper darkness. Kinesis stiffened slightly his tail flicking a little.

"Alright Haunter, we're going to be teaching the kadabra how to use shadow ball." Ben's voice was firm, no room for negotiation. Haunter floated up and looked at Ben in surprise. Ben met the chilling gaze evenly. The haunter whined but Ben refused to budge. Reluctantly Haunter drifted over to Kinesis. I smiled almost bouncing with excitement. We were so close!

The lesson went slowly. Kinesis had a strong distaste for handling the dark energy, his mind partly rebelling from it, while Haunter showed off and preferred mocking the kadabra. Ben and I were almost constantly correcting them. Time stretched out, taking almost a week for Kinesis to get down the basics. I supposed we were lucky to get that far with the antagonism. It wasn't getting better either. Most training sessions ended with the pair being forcefully separated.

At least once he had the basics I could practice one on one with Kinesis again. Without a teacher and how alien the energy was to him it was slower than working with Haunter. A couple times I was tempted to have Kinesis train with Haunter again despite the fights, but perhaps this was for the best. Rushing in at the gym had been a painful experience.

At last I felt we were ready to challenge the gym again. It had been almost two months since I'd lost, but the intensive training I'd done with my team was sure to pay off. I reentered the gym and made my way to where Sabrina stood, the same chill as before running up my spine.

"So you've returned," Sabrina murmured, "let's see how much you've improved." I bit my lip almost drawing blood as I released Kinesis.

"I see your abra's evolved," Sabrina said, " but that alone will not be enough." I grinned fiercely.

 _She won't underestimate us for long, so move fast,_ I sent to Kinesis. The kadabra bobbed his head in agreement. The two psychic pokemon stood still carefully measuring each other.

"Begin." Sabrina's voice broke the stare off, and both pokemon flashed psychic beams at each other. Alakazam threw up a shield as Kinesis teleported behind him.

 _Strike now!_ Alakazam spun around striking with a psychic sphere, only to find himself countered with a shadow ball. The dark energy devoured the psychic output and hit the vulnerable alakazam. Surprise flashed on Sabrina's face for an instant. She quickly recovered and her alakazam teleported away. I worried at my lip. What if we weren't fast enough? We'd struck Alakazam once already, weakening him, but he'd be on guard now for a similar trick. We wouldn't be able to pull it off again.

 _Try to confuse him, then strike with shadow ball again._ Kinesis' eyes glowed blue, Alakazam's matching as they fought back in forth in a battle of pure will. Kinesis broke away, staggering. Alakazam's eyes flashed with triumph only to be struck with the shadow ball I'd ordered. My distraction had worked.

I was forced to come up with more and more elaborate tricks and traps as the battle wore on. Kinesis was battered across a few times, and in a fair battle we would have lost. It was only his use of shadow ball that allowed us to match the more powerful alakazam. Panting the two psychics rushed each other. There was a slight stumble from Alakazam-and Kinesis struck the lucky blow. Alakazam collapsed.

I cheered with delight as Kinesis panted heavily from the exertion. Returning the kadabra I kissed the pokeball lightly.

"Great job buddy," I whispered. Sabrina crossed the field to my side, holding out the marsh badge.

"Congratulations. I noticed you didn't call any commands to your pokemon. Is there a reason for that?" I accepted the badge and frowned wondering how to explain. Hopefully Sabrina would understand. I didn't really get it personally.

"I...I thought my commands at Kinesis. He won't listen otherwise." Sabrina nodded her head.

"I see. How did you figure this out?" she asked.

"I kept feeling amusement when I was really frustrated. I realized it was coming from him, and just... _thought_ back in the direction of the feeling, if that makes any sense." Sabrina nodded her head calmly.

"As I suspected. I had sensed a weak psychic energy when you entered. I had assumed it was coming from your kadabra, but it seems it's coming from you instead." I gaped.

"What?" Sabrina smiled enigmatically.

"You seem to have a weak psychic connection with your pokemon. It's what allowed you to connect with your kadabra and train him. They are notoriously difficult for those without any psychic abilities to train. I suspect your kadabra helped to guide you in finding that connection and use it to communicate with him." I blinked in shock.

"I...I'm psychic?" She laughed softly.

"No, not truly. It's only a weak connection. I believe communicating with your pokemon silently will be the extent of your abilities. In time you may learn to hear them in return but it would take time to learn such." I nodded my head, still feeling a little overwhelmed. Sabrina looked at me pityingly. It was obvious I didn't know how to respond.

"If you wish I can show you some exercises to help hone your ability," Sabrina offered. I nodded.

"That would be great...thanks."

So unexpectedly yet another week was spent in Saffron City, Sabrina patiently teaching me about my ability and how to make the most of my connection with them. Using my abilities I could keep my strategies hidden from my opponent, and strengthen my team even further. One day they might even respond to my thoughts before I had even fully formulated them. But that would be years in the future, Sabrina assured me. For now she assigned me some simple exercises to practice with Kinesis, my most sensitive pokemon. Relieved to have her help I took plenty of notes. My head was spinning at the end of the week, but I this new ability just might be something I could handle.

With that in mind we took to the road again, ready to seek out our next badge.


	12. Chapter 12

I eyed Koga warily. Three of his pokemon had been defeated, now all that was left was to take down his muk to win the badge. Unfortunately my pokemon were exhausted, and none of my pokemon seemed to be doing any damage to the poison pokemon.

"Pooka, dodge!" I shouted as Muk threw a sludge bomb at the mouse. Pooka barely darted out of the way only to be caught by the muk's pound attack. Pooka slid hard against the floor, knocked out cold. I sighed and returned him. It looked like I was down to my last pokemon. Charren would have to win this for me, despite already being tired from her earlier battle against one of Koga's weezings.

The grimer again moved in to pound on my pokemon.

"Take it, Charren," I muttered. _Use Rage,_ I thought at Charren. I repeated the thought over and over, trying to get it through to her. If Charren managed to catch the grimer off guard with a rage attack we might be able to pull this off, and win the match. The grimer seemed content attacking Charren. Just when I thought it hadn't worked Charren's tail flared. Rage coursed through her and she suddenly struck tearing through the grimy pokemon. With a final blast of flame the pokemon was knocked out.

"Yes!" I grabbed Charren and pulled her in for a hug. The charmeleon grumbled good naturedly nuzzling into my shoulder.

"Congratulations," Koga said. Beaming I accepted the badge. Ben had just gone before me, having a much easier time using his haunter and nidorino. With the badge earned by both of us we were ready to leave Fuschia City behind.

We'd been traveling for a few days towards the next city when we came across a small town in the middle of nowhere. It was a perfect stop for restocking on supplies. I let Polaris and Pooka out to walk with me, the young filly enjoying the chance to get out and run around. Pooka rode on my shoulder, more content to simply take in the fresh air.

It wasn't until we left the store that I realized a little girl was following us. It wasn't anything overt, just peeking at us and clearly dragging a few feet behind us. I nudged Ben.

"Hey, does that girl seem to be following us?" Ben looked behind us. The girl squeaked and clutched her dress, darting behind a tree. Ben frowned.

"It does look like it."

"Wonder what she wants?" Deciding to confront her I turned around.

"Hey kid!" The kid looked around from her tree and pointed to herself. I nodded.

"Yeah, you. Why are you following us?" The girl edged forward. I crouched down so I wouldn't seem as frightening.

"You have pokemon…" she said hesitantly. I smiled softly.

"Yeah. You want to meet them?" I held out my arm. Pooka eagerly bounded down and sniffed at the girl. Giggling a little she crouched down and petted Pooka. In her hand I could see she was holding a pokeball.

"Do you have a pokemon as well?" I asked. She shook her head.

"No...I want to catch one though." I nodded thinking.

"Do you know how to catch one?" She shook her head. I smiled.

"Why don't we help you?" Her eyes as big as her face she nodded eagerly. I glanced to Ben.

"Do you know what we can catch for her?" Ben scratched his head.

"There are some oddishes in the area that she might like," Ben offered. The girl nodded quickly.

"I'm Cara, and this is my friend Ben. What's your name?" I asked.

"Mary."

"Come on Mary, let's go find an oddish." I held out my hand to the little girl. Shyly Mary slipped her hand into my grass and we headed out to a field just outside of town. I looked at Polaris and Pooka.

"Okay, can you round up an oddish for us?" I asked them. Pooka cheerfully darted into the field Polaris following at a trot. We waited for a short time before we heard a squeal. Not long after Polaris trotted out looking rather pleased with herself as she carried an oddish back in her mouth, the poor pokemon knocked out. Mary squealed and clapped her hands in delight.

"It's perfect! Thank you!" Polaris dropped the pokemon and trotted over to me, nuzzling for a treat. I fed her a carrot and smiled at Mary.

"No problem. Go ahead and catch it." Mary nodded and threw her pokeball. It shook for a moment before falling still. Mary ran up and grabbed it looking like she could hardly believed it had happened. Ben smiled.

"Good job Mary," he said. I nodded. Mary beamed at us.

"Thanks! Your ponyta is really fast. I bet you could win the race." I tilted my head.

"What race?"

"The Laramy Big P Ranch is having a race. I bet you could win," Mary explained. I blinked in surprise. The Laramy Big P Ranch was famous for the quality of the pokemon that it raised. It held a big open race for all comers twice a year for just a $20 fee. The winner would get either a big cash prize or a pokemon from the ranch itself and would be inducted as an honorary member of the clan. I'd been hoping to stop by the ranch, but what were the chances that the race would be open around when we reached there?

I'd never ridden Polaris before. She was just a baby after all. It was a shame she wasn't older, or I could enter the race on her. As it was we'd have to stick to the audience. Still it should be a good show. I thanked Mary for telling us and we hurried towards the ranch Pooka and Polaris following behind.

We were in view of the ranch when a girl riding a rapidash came down into view. Polaris squealed in surprise and danced back. I was startled and quickly put a hand on her to calm her down. Looking at Polaris I realized this was the first time she would have seen her own kind since I'd gotten her. Polaris quickly calmed down under my touch and watched with some curiosity as the rapidash and rider came close.

"Howdy. Y'all here for the big race?" Ben and I nodded.

"Polaris is too young for it this year, but we'd love to watch," I said. The girl smiled and glanced at my ponyta-only to do a double take. She looked like she'd seen a ghost.

"Where'd ya git that ponyta?" she demanded. I looked at Polaris in confusion.

"I found her, a few months ago. Some boys were hurting her and I captured her to save her. Why?" The girl frowned.

"That's some story ya have. Wouldn't have been around six or so months ago now would it?" I nodded, not sure I liked her tone. The girl suddenly grabbed a rope from her saddle and tossed it around Polaris' head. Polaris squealed in fear kicking up her hooves.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?" Ben shouted.

"That there ponyta is stolen property of Laramy Big P Ranch. Buying stolen pokemon is illegal. I'll hafta report y'all," the rider said grimly. I bit my lip.

"Polaris isn't stolen! I captured her fair and square!" I shouted. The girl laughed.

"Right. Just like ya c'n capture any of the ranch's pokemon. You see the ponyta's coat? That white color?" I nodded. It was a distinct part of her, the reason why I'd named her Polaris. I'd never seen a ponyta with such a pale coat before her.

"That's from special breeding at this here ranch. Makes them pretty recognizable. One of our foals got stolen round six months back, and looks like you've brought 'er right back to us." I glared at her.

"I. Am. Not. A. Thief. Polaris is mine," I gritted out. The girl arched a brow.

"We'll see 'bout that," she said. Polaris pulled restlessly at the rope as she was tugged away. I pulled out her pokeball to return her to safety but Ben stopped me.

"Don't," he murmured. I dropped my hand. He had a point. If I returned Polaris I'd only look more guilty, stealing her again from her rightful owners. I still bit my lip.

"I can't just let them take her away," I said, "she's my first pokemon." Ben looked at me sympathetically.

"I know. But we'll have to be smart about this. We have to prove that she's yours. Maybe we can call up the nurse Joy that took care of Polaris, and Professor Oak. They might be able to help." I nodded and shakily pulled out my phone.

A few hours later I entered the ranch's main office papers clutched in my hand. I placed the papers on the desk.

"I'm here for my ponyta," I declared, "these papers show I am the real owner." Startled the secretary looked up.

"I beg your pardon?"

"She means she's here fer the ponyta she stole," a familiar voice said. I glared as the girl from earlier came forward.

"What's this ya have?" She took the papers and thumbed through it. The girl bit her lip.

"This does look legitimate...but she was still stolen in the first place, and belongs t' us. I'm not sure I'd feel right giving her back," she drawled. I clenched my fists.

"I've been taking care of her since I found her months ago. She trusts me, and I've never abused her. She's my first pokemon!" The girl still didn't look entirely swayed.

"Doesn't make her theft right," she said.

"Then how can I prove that she belongs with me?" The girl leaned back a thoughtful look on her face.

"Lessee...how about if ya beat me in a race?" the girl suggested, "The normal prize is a pokemon from this ranch anyhow." My face fell.

"I don't have any pokemon I can race with," I told her. The girl waved her hand.

"Then ya can borrow one. Won't matter in the end. A poor trainer can't win the race with one of our pokemon," she said dismissively. I would have punched her if Ben hadn't grabbed my fist.

"Deal," I ground out. Ben looked at me worriedly.

"You sure you know what you're doing?" Ben muttered.

"Do I have a choice?" I shot back. Ben shook his head. Legally there was nothing I could do to get Polaris back. I might have captured her properly but not all pokemon were captured and kept with pokeballs. She belonged to the ranch, and unless they relented Polaris was lost to me permanently.

We walked down to the stables where the racing pokemon were kept. Ben helped me check over the pokemon, analyzing each one with his pokedex and scanning their traits. Eventually we settled on a young tauros. He was a fiery pokemon, would be a bit difficult to control, but he had the best speed of the lot. As long as I could hold on and steer him I could win the race.

I hardly slept that night. What if I didn't win? What if the tauros refused to listen to me? What if I did win, but Polaris didn't want to leave the ranch? It was where she had come from after all. Ben woke me from an uneasy sleep around seven the next morning. I could hardly keep my eyes open. As unhealthy as it was I drank a large cup of coffee, grimacing against the bitter taste.

"You gonna be alright out there?" Ben asked worriedly, "You look half dead." I snorted.

"I'm not giving up on Polaris Ben. If this is the only way to get her back I'm going to win." Ben nodded a little skeptically.

"If you're sure."

I was practically vibrating when we arrived at the ranch. The sun was burning down through everything, irritating me even further. Not only was I hyped up I was grouchy from my lack of sleep and the sun's touch only made things worse, squirming for a way to get comfortable. The girl that had taken Polaris from me rode over on her rapidash.

"Ya'll ready?" she asked. I nodded grimly. She glanced at me, a sliver of concern in her eyes.

"Ya don't look so hot. P'rhaps we should race later." I shook my head.

"No. We'll race for Polaris now."

"If ya say so." I grabbed the tauros I'd picked out yesterday and somehow managed to get on it's back. Ben watched me his face full of worry.

"Be careful. Polaris isn't worth getting trampled for," he told me. I glared at him.

"Says you! She's worth more than that," I snapped. Sharply I turned the tauros and we headed to the race line, the tauros snorting and stomping its hooves restlessly as we lined up. I could feel it quivering beneath me, just as jittery. Hopefully that jitteriness meant it was ready for a good run. I didn't really know much about racing pokemon beyond holding on and hoping I don't fall off. I could only pray this went well.

A gun went off in the air startling the pokemon. My tauros leaped forward practically bucking me off right at the start. I held on with everything I had determined to not go flying. It was terrifying how out of control this was. There was no way I was going to be able to steer this tauros. I was lucky just to be holding on and not going flying.

Hitting a steep incline I bit my lip. Falling off here would be extremely painful. Again only my determination to get Polaris back allowed me to keep holding on. Several of the pokemon fell back, tired out by the long slope. The tauros was heaving heavily once we reached the top but we were still good to go. Only five more pokemon in front of us. I couldn't believe this half wild pokemon was doing so well.

The dodrio was passed. Four more. A skirmish around a corner and we passed the other tauros. Three to go. I practically slammed into the rhyhorn, amazed it was managing to be this fast. My tauros mount was faster. Two left. I came up to a ponyta. My insides ached thinking of Polaris. The tauros hummed in reassurance at me and we passed. One.

Ahead the girl raced on her rapidash, one of the fastest pokemon someone could own. It was pure poetry in motion watching them move together. I wouldn't mind losing most of the time. I would even expect it. But the stakes were too high here. I forced the tauros to go even faster. Inch by inch we overtook the rapidash until finally, we passed into the lead.

"Yes! Yes!" The finish line was in sight. I could hardly hear the sound of my own breathing over the sound of the roar of the crowd. I leaned forward, almost touching it-

The world shattered. At least, that's what it felt like. I flipped head over heels as the tauros stumbled sending me flying. I crashed hard against the dirt unable to focus. There was something I had to do. I had to keep going. But to where? A low moan had me sitting up, trying to ignore the throbbing that threatened to cause me to black out. I stumbled forward into the soft coat of a tauros. My mount. I was in a race, wasn't I? I looked over just in time to see the girl on her rapidash cross the finish line.

"No," I moaned, "this can't have happened." I began to cry, unable to stop the tears as they trailed down my cheek. The girl looked at me uncomfortably as I sobbed my heart out. Ben rushed over and pulled me into his arms checking me over. He sighed in relief.

"It'll be alright Cara," he promised, "You're going to be fine."

"But I-I lost," I hiccupped, "I'll n-never see P-Polaris again!" Ben hugged me tightly glaring at the girl that had made me cry.

"You're lucky she wasn't badly hurt," Ben growled. She sighed, pushing her hair out of her face.

"Look, it doesn't have to be that bad," she tried. Ben's glare intensified. She raised her hands.

"I'm just saying. She did amazingly well in the race, especially on a half trained tauros. If he'd been a little better trained she would have won." We both gaped at her. The tauros had been difficult to ride. I had struggled right from the start controlling the tauros. If I had realized it was so poorly trained I wouldn't have picked it. I was going to be covered in bruises for the next few days.

"Either way, you did quite well. And your love for your ponyta is obvious. You really did raise her well. So...just this once I think it's okay if we bend the rules and you can do some work to pay off for your ponyta." Startled I stared at her, blinking rapidly through my tears.

"Are you serious?" Ben asked. She nodded.

"You can take Polaris back." I beamed wiping away my tears the best I could.

"Th-thank you," I whispered. She grinned.

"Come on. I'll show you where she is." Smiling a little I followed after her to a paddock where a herd of ponytas and rapidashes grazed. She whistled and the herd perked up coming towards the fence. Trailing at the back was a familiar ponyta.

"Polaris!" I shouted. The ponyta lifted her head and nickered in excitement I leaped the fence as she galloped up to me. I hugged her around the neck.

"You're okay, you can come home with me," I babbled, "everything's fine now." Polaris nuzzled against me. I looked to the girl that had caused me so much trouble.

"Thank you so much for letting me have Polaris back," I gushed. The girl smiled.

"Glad she's with such a loving trainer." The girl mounted her rapidash. "I'd best get back. Ask for me when you're ready to start working. Name's Lara."

"I'm Cara." She nodded and turned back to the ranch, galloping away. I smiled at Ben.

"At least this wasn't a complete disaster."

"I'll be happy to see the last of this place," Ben mumbled.


	13. Chapter 13

A good night's sleep and a few days work later we were off to check out the nearby Safari Zone. Ben had been beside himself with excitement about the huge variety of pokemon we could catch in there. It was awfully expensive to go in, so we pooled our money enough to get two sessions worth in there.

We wandered the trails for most of the first one, but it seemed none of the rare pokemon really came to the trails. Probably too many people using them for the pokemon to be okay wandering around them. With no pokemon at the end of our first session I was a little more wary about spending the money on our second round. Ben was excited to get a new pokemon though and he wasn't about to turn down the chance. this time we left the main trails behind.

Off the trails I couldn't really tell we were in a park. The thick plants and sound of pokemon reminded me of the various forests we'd been through while collecting our badges. We had been debating about finding a river to try and catch a dratini when a lonely cry shivered through the air. I immediately turned toward it.

"What was that?" I asked. Ben shrugged.

"Sounded like it needed help, whatever it was." We both rushed off towards it worried. Breaking into the clearing we found a swarm of scythers hovering around an injured kangaskhan joey. I froze with fear. Yet more evidence of how deadly scythers were. I couldn't suppress a shiver. Ben grabbed a rock and chucked it at the angry insects.

"Hey!" They turned at the shout focusing on the new threat. Ben threw another rock, this time hitting one of the scythers. Furious they zoomed towards us. Ben turned to run, and realized I was still frozen. He grabbed me and dragged me after him, desperate to try and lose them. One of them nearly cut off my head. I screamed in terror.

We dove into the water. The scythers furiously buzzed overhead, waiting for us to come up. Ben signaled for me to follow him. I dove down deeper into the water following him down the stream. Around a bend Ben finally surfaced. I gasped as I came up. That was terrifying.

"That was insane," I said. Ben grinned.

"Now you know how it feels following after you." I swatted at him as we both clambered out of the water, soaking wet.

"We should go back to that joey," I said, "the poor thing could die alone." Ben nodded. Carefully we tried to trace our steps back. It was a good thing the joey decided to make that crying noise again, or we would have never found it. The poor joey shivered on the ground. I crouched down.

"It's okay little fellow," I crooned, "we're going to help you." The joey squealed in fear and tried to back up. A loud roar warned us that mama was close by. We whirled around, finding ourselves in the worst possible position to be: between a mama kangaskhan and her baby.

This probably would have been a lot less painful if I hadn't decided to scoop the joey up, ready to run if necessary.

"Uh...stay calm, we'll just let your baby go," I said cautiously. I moved to lower the joey, but it only squealed again enraging the mother further. She charged. Not having a choice to drop the joey I turned and ran, Ben right behind me. We might have done alright if a branch hadn't hit me. Tumbling down I closed my eyes bracing for the blow from the angry kangaskhan.

It never came. Cautiously I opened my eyes, absently trying to sooth the now crying joey. I looked around. The kangaskhan was gone. Ben was panting hard as he stared at me, a pokeball in his hand.

"Your welcome." My jaw dropped.

"You caught it?" Ben shrugged.

"I wasn't going to let it hurt you," he explained. I petted the joey worriedly.

"What about this little one? It can't go in the pokeball with it's ma since you caught them separately." Ben tilted his head, looking at the slowly relaxing joey.

"Maybe you could catch it. You're pretty good with your pokemon, and that way it can stay close to it's mom." I thought about it and shrugged.

"Alright. Guess I could use another pokemon." I gently held the pokeball against the joey catching it. The timer at our waist beeped then, letting us know our time in the safari zone was up. Tired, we both walked out. Ben seemed pretty satisfied with his catch, talking about the power and strength kangaskhans could hold and their rarity. I was just glad we didn't have enough for a third round. Twice wandering around in there was more than enough for me. I'd rather stay where I could have my pokemon out.

With that over with we finally left Fuschia City. I was glad to leave it behind. Earning the badge had been tough, and almost losing Polaris had been terrifying. Out on the trail again we talked about our next destination: Cinnabar Island. Leviathan would be the one to carry us there, as until Ben's wartortle, Hurrico, evolved none of our other pokemon could carry us there.

"Hey!" someone shouted. We turned to see a guy dressed nearly in all black storm towards us, his face clouded. A koffing hovered at his shoulder looking ready to attack at his owner's slightest command. Ben stepped in front of me, automatically ready to defend me if necessary.

"Are you two pokemon trainers?" the guy demanded. Ben jerked his head up.

"Yeah. What of it?" Ben said. The guy looked over both of us and nodded.

"You'll do. Come." With that he turned and walked back toward the way he came. We glanced at each other in surprise. Did he really expect us to just follow him? The guy turned around and glared at us.

"Come on! We haven't got all day; who knows how long they've been stuck." Stuck? Who? Drawn by our curiosity we quickly raced to catch up. He lead us off the trail to a small dirt path going over a stream. A sharp ditch marked the start of the bridge deterring anyone from climbing down. There was no easy way to get back up unless one was willing to go swimming. A tiny whimper caught my attention. There, trapped in a gap too small for the guy who'd fetched us to get into, were three eevees.

"Eevees?" I exclaimed, "How did they get here? Aren't they rare?" Eevees were well known for their unique ability to evolve into multiple pokemon instead of only having a single evolution line. It made them highly wanted by trainers and pokemon collectors. As if that didn't make them hard enough to find, the pokemon were naturally skittish and wanted little to do with humans making them even more difficult to track down.

The guy shrugged. "I don't have a clue. I just can't reach them, and I know they're stuck. Their crying drew my attention. Something must have chased them there." He looked at us helplessly.

"I tried to get them myself, but my koffing can't carry them, and I'm far too large. Could you help them?"

"We'd be happy to help," Ben said. I nodded and released Blossom. The ivysaur looked around some before glancing at me, tilting her head.

"I need you to pull those eevees out of there, gently," I told her. Blossom nodded and set to work. The terrified eevees attacked the vines, trying to move around in the small gap they were stuck in. Blossom grunted in pain but kept up her work, finally freeing the three small pokemon. As soon as the eevees were out they dashed into a nearby bush, refusing to come out.

The guy who'd shown us them sighed.

"Looks like they're pretty traumatised. At least they're out. Thanks," he said. Ben looked at him suspiciously.

"You don't want to capture one?" Ben asked. He shook his head.

"Nah, too expensive. I'm lucky to have my koffing." He waved and left. Ben and I looked at each other.

"So...guess there's no reason why we can't capture them," I said slowly. Ben nodded. I crouched down to where the three eevees were, still shaking with fear. Blossom grumbled in irritation behind me, nursing her injured vines.

"Hey there," I said softly, "we're not here to hurt you. It's going to be okay." I concentrated on sensing them and sending out peaceful vibes, the way I'd been practicing with Kinesis. A wave of suspicion came back in response, one of the eevees boldly growling at me. I winced and backed up a little. So they'd take a little more convincing than that. Still doing my best to project peace I dug into my bag and pulled out some berries. The eevees were probably hungry after so long trapped. I placed them as near to the eevees as I could without them attacking and backed away.

The eevees didn't move at first, but hunger won out over suspicion and they edged out. The berries were gone in minutes, the poor eevees licking where I'd placed them. I dug into my bag and pulled out more, Ben adding some berries from his own storage. The eevees tensed again, but finally a slender tendril of acceptance came from them. I sighed in relief.

"It's okay," I told Ben, "we should be able to capture them now." I turned and looked at the eevees. "Want to come with us? We'll make sure you're alright." The eevees cautiously nodded. I grinned widely.

"So which one do you want Ben?" Ben crouched down and studied the eevees carefully. At last he selected one of the eevees with wide innocent eyes.

"This one will do," Ben said firmly. The eevee looked at him and closed it's eyes, at peace with Ben. It didn't struggle at all with the capture. I took out two pokeballs of my own and carefully captured the remaining two. Both fought for a moment before relaxing, their pokeballs vanishing to Professor Oak's. I'd have to swap for them later.

What a catch! Who would have guessed I would have managed to get such rare pokemon?


	14. Chapter 14

Cinnabar Island. A rich place for finding evolution stones. I had enough money saved up to buy plenty of them, and excitedly evolved as many of my pokemon as I could. Pexle evolved into a ninetales with a fire stone, Vaardesh into a vaporeon with a water stone, and Jarday into a jolteon. I tried to evolve Pooka as well, but he simply refused. I was surprised when Ben elected not to evolve his own eevee, telling me that he wanted to wait and spend more time with her first before selecting what she should evolve into.

That's not to say none of his pokemon evolved. Wartortle finally evolved into Blastoise, unable to stand Ben having to use Leviathan to get around. Ben gave his nidorino a moonstone as well, so now he had a nidoking. Pidgeotto was now Pidgeot, and his growlithe seemed ready to start evolving any day now.

Deciding to take a day to enjoy the beach we headed down with our pokemon. I'd swapped most of mine out for my new pokemon so they could get a chance to relax, Vaardesh and Jarday on the team with Pooka, Polaris, Leviathan, and my little joey Kanya. Leviathan and Vaardesh were ecstatic about the chance to dive into the ocean. Ben's eevee happily played with Jarday as Ben and I stretched out on the beach watching some surfers. We watched as one surfer shot through the curl of a wave coming out just as it collapsed.

"That was amazing!" Ben exclaimed, "I'd love to try that."

"It's pretty hard," I said, "my uncle surfs, and he says a lot of the time even people that are good at it get knocked off their boards. He offered me surfing lessons once. It's too bad I never took him up on it," I mused.

"Too busy planning to be a pokemon trainer?" Ben teased. I blushed. Quickly I pointed out a different surfer.

"Look, that one's got a pokemon surfing out with him." Ben leaned forward and squinted.

"Yeah. Looks like it's a pikachu." I sat up and squinted at the surfers. No way. What were the chances?

"I think...I think that's my uncle," I said. Ben stared at me.

"Your uncle who surfs?" I nodded my head. Ben stared at the surfer.

"Huh. What are the odds?" Ben said. I stood up quickly.

"I'm gonna go see him. Wanna come Pooka?" I said. My pikachu happily jumped onto my shoulder chattering happily. I waded out into the water and whistled for Leviathan. Quite a few people jumped as the friendly gyarados surfaced and I climbed up.

"Come on, let's go see my uncle," I said. Leviathan cheerfully swam out towards him. Quite a few of the surfers stiffened as we approached. My uncle laid back on his board watching with interest, his pikachu watching.

"Hey Uncle Victor!" I called. Uncle Victor squinted, and waved at me grinning broadly.

"Hey Cara! What brings you out here?" Uncle Victor said.

"I started my pokemon journey. We're here to challenge the Cinnabar Gym, but we decided to take a break and relax at the beach first." Uncle Victor smiled and looked at my pikachu.

"That's a cute pikachu you have there," Uncle Victor drawled.

"Thanks. His name's Pooka." Uncle Victor's pikachu's ears popped up. I chuckled.

"Not you. My pikachu." I looked up at Uncle Victor. "I named him after yours." He chuckled good naturedly.

"Glad you like him so much," he said, "Well good luck on winning your gym badge!" I smiled broadly.

"Thanks!"

Just getting through to Blaine to challenge him was difficult with the riddles he'd set up. Thankfully Ben was with me, and he was quite handy at the word puzzles. We stepped forward to where Blaine waited for us, the old fire master grinning broadly.

"Welcome to my gym," Blaine said, "who's going first?" Ben stepped forward. We'd agreed earlier he would go first as his blastoise wouldn't be able to take the heat from the gym for long. Blaine grinned.

"Excellent. Charmeleon, go!" Blaine threw his pokeball, releasing the temperamental fire pokemon. Ben thought for a moment before drawing out his own pokeball.

"Growlithe! Tackle!" The young pokemon immediately launched himself at his opponent. The charmeleon snarled as Blaine commanded it to dodge. They battled based on pure strength and stamina, neither able to get the advantage with fire attacks.

It took a while but Growlithe managed to take out the charmeleon. Panting heavily he swayed slightly. It was unlikely he'd be able to take on Blaine's next pokemon. Blaine smirked sending out a flareon. The fiery pokemon took one look at Growlithe and easily knocked him out. Ben gathered up the puppy pokemon, assuring him it was alright before releasing Nidoking. The fierce pokemon roared with pride stomping his feet.

"Clever...but not clever enough!" Blaine said, "Firewheel! Go!" Flareon quickly spun creating a vortex of flame before rushing towards Nidoking. He flinched against the intense heat. His skin was thick, but not enough to prevent burns from forming.

"Horn attack!" Ben called. Somehow Nidoking managed to push through the heat and attack his horn dripping with poison. The pair clashed again and again, Nidoking panting heavily under the heat and exertion while the flareon struggled against the poison slowly seeping through it's veins. Nidoking roared in pain as Flareon struck again, finally knocking the large beast over. Ben returned him, disappointment in his eyes before finally he sent out his trump card: Blastoise.

It didn't take more than a single blast of water to knock the flareon out, already drained from the poison and the battle with Nidoking. Blaine smirked and drew out yet another pokeball.

"Well played, but you haven't faced my toughest pokemon yet. Go Magmar!" The volcanic pokemon was released, stamping his feet and spurting out flames. Blastoise responded with a low roar, sending his own blasts of water into the air.

I gulped. Sure water trumped fire, but this pokemon looked tough.

"Come on, you can do it Ben!" I cheered. Ben nodded, looking a little wary. Neither of us were quitters however and Ben quickly ordered Blastoise to attack. The magmar answered with a hot spout of lava. Both sides struggled, neither able to get in a defining blow. I was worried Ben might actually lose, until I noticed that the magmar was starting to tire. He was powerful, but he was up against a fully evolved water pokemon. He had no chance!

I cheered wildly as step by step the magmar was pushed back. Blastoise finished him off with a water gun, and Blaine nodded.

"Well done, kid. Here's your badge." Ben accepted it with pride and I eagerly stepped forward. Blaine grinned.

"You sure you're ready?"

"As sure as I'll get." Blaine nodded and drew out his pokeball, releasing a beautiful ninetales. She was beautiful, and far larger than Pexle. I still released him onto the field, my own ninetales trotting out proudly. He may have just evolved, but he was ready to do me proud. I closed my eyes concentrating. Facing a much older ninetales I would need an edge, and our psychic connection might just be that.

I struggled holding the connection, but I could feel Kinesis strengthening me. It gave Pexle the edge he needed, reacting just slightly faster than Blaine's ninetales did. His fire attacks did nothing, and the female ninetales could easily overwhelm his psychic abilities. It was a good thing she was more trained to fire attacks, sending the battle to be finished through physical blows. They darted back and forth, tackling each other and rolling around. Only by having my mind in sync with Pxle gave him the edge to win. Blaine withdrew his ninetales and sent out an arcanine. The arcanine almost lazily darted forward knocking Pexle out. He was far faster than Pexle could hope to be. Speed wouldn't win me this battle.

Perhaps brute strength would. "Leviathan, your turn!" I shouted. The legendary water dragon was unleashed, roaring in triumph. He barely fit inside the room, and I could see that the heat was already making him uncomfortable. We would have to act fast for him to be able to take out the arcanine.

Speaking to Leviathan telepathically was a much greater strain. I resorted back to speaking out loud, simply to stop the headache that was building up. Besides, I wasn't exactly thinking particularly fast with the struggle of managing to get in sync. Connecting with a psychic pokemon was much easier than communicating with a regular one. Thankfully my bet on drawing out Leviathan worked. The arcanine was defeated, but not before leaving him half exhausted.

"Now for my final pokemon," Blaine announced, "Go Rapidash!" The fiery horse trotted out tossing it's head proudly.

"Blast it Leviathan!" I shouted. My gyarados bellowed, but wasn't fast enough to take down the rapidash.

"Stomp on it!" Blaine called. The rapidash quickly heeded his orders sharp hooves pounding into Leviathan's body. Try as he might the rapidash was too quick to bind in his coils, leaving him vulnerable. The fire scorched his body,but at least he managed to lash against the rapidash, even if he struck himself as well in his struggles. Exhausted Leviathan collapsed. I returned him, chewing my lip with some worry. The rapidash was powerful, and my pokemon weren't as well trained as Ben's had been. Most weren't even evolved all the way. There was one pokemon I could count on though. I looked to Polaris.

"It's your turn girl." Whinnying she proudly trotted forward to face against her evolved form. Polaris may only be a couple years old, but she was a powerful pokemon, and she would win! I was sure of it! Blaine frowned seeing my choice but indicated for his rapidash to attack. Luckily Polaris was easy to mentally link to, and she moved quickly out of the way. She was fast, always had been, and the training with her speed, knowing she wouldn't get most of her strength until she was older, allowed her to keep up with the rapidash's quick movements.

Polaris was gouged in the side with the rapidash's horn, but she stood strong and was able to take down the rapidash. We were both breathing heavily by the time she finished, Polaris from exhaustion and me from the strain of watching her battle. But we had done it! I had won the volcano badge!

"Congratulations," Blaine said. He passed me the badge. I hugged Polaris, and we left to head down to the pokemon center for them to get healed up. It had been tough, but we were almost done collecting all the badges. Only one more to go!


	15. Chapter 15

Getting back to the mainland from Cinnabar Island we decided to all stop at Aqua Town. It was nice being so close to home, we couldn't just go past it. It was great seeing my family again. My parents were impressed with how well trained my pokemon were, and actually helped me train them. My pokemon had far outstripped their weepinbell and zubat at this point, but they still had good pointers.

Hearing that the Viridian Gym Leader was back I got serious picking my team. They had to be my strongest members, as I most likely would be forced to use all six of them. Polaris was on the team of course. She had been with me from the beginning, and even not evolved she was powerful and extremely quick. She might not have brute force but she had speed. Leviathan quickly claimed second place. As a water type he'd have an advantage over the ground types that the gym leader used, and he was a bit of a monster in battle.

Picking the next four wasn't as easy. Ben was having a much easier time selecting and training his smaller team. While some of my pokemon were obviously not fit for the gym, such as Kanya the kangaskhan joey and Welly my poliwag, I still had lots of pokemon to choose from. Eventually I decided to focus on selecting pokemon that would have a type advantage, or at least not a disadvantage. Polaris wouldn't be having an easy time as a fire type at least. Hurrico, Blossom, Pexle, and Vaardesh finished off the team. Hurrico and Vaardesh would have a type advantage with both being water, and Blossom didn't have a weakness against ground. Pexle could hopefully make up for his fire weakness with his psychic abilities.

We spent a couple weeks training together before we left to the gym. Most of the time when we weren't actively training was spent trying to do what we could to polish our teams. Ben's growlithe evolved into Arcanine under the intense training, something Ben was utterly delighted over. At last we reached the city and walked to the gym. We stared up at the ominous building.

"I've heard tough things about this guy," Ben muttered.

"Yeah...so...who wants to go first?" Ben frowned.

"Rock paper scissors?" I nodded half heartedly. I should have been more psyched up about this, but I truly wasn't. The building just felt so oppressive. Distracted I barely noticed Ben win. He frowned but nodded his head and we headed inside. We faced the large cavernous stadium inside. It was empty, sending chills up my spine seeing it.

"I thought the gym leader was here?" I muttered.

"Hello?" Ben shouted. Slowly we walked down, looking around in case we had missed the gym leader. The sound of footsteps echoed, causing me to jump. Ben looked at me. I blushed. So I was feeling a little nervous. Sue me. We watched as a man in a black suit walked in. He looked crisp, and almost familiar. I wasn't sure why that was. Perhaps I'd seen a picture of him somewhere?

"Greetings," he said, "I'm Giovanni, the gym leader here. I assume you're here to challenge me?" We both nodded.

"So which of you will go first?"

"I will," Ben said, not sounding too confident. It was as if the building had drained away the usual cheer and spirit we felt when fighting a gym battle. I headed over and sat on the side, running my fingers over Polaris' pokeball nervously. I wanted to release her for comfort, but she needed to be well rested for the battle ahead.

Giovanni released his pokemon. A nidoking, a nidoqueen, a rhydon, a persian, a golem, and a rhyhorn. All of them looked deadly. "These are the pokemon I'll fight with," he informed Ben, "release yours." Ben hesitated for a moment before complying, releasing Nidoking, Blastoise, Pidgeot, Kangaskhan, Haunter, and Arcanine. Giovanni waved his hand and the scarred rhyhorn lumbered forward.

"Go Blas," Ben called. Blastoise headed out and stared at his opponent. The rhyhorn didn't seem the slightest bit intimidated by the fully evolved pokemon. Silence fell, neither side making their move. Realizing he would have to be the one to act first Ben shifted.

"Hydro pump!" Blastoise stepped back aiming his cannons at the rhyhorn. Still Giovanni didn't make a move. Blastoise released a thick torrent of water from his cannons, only to be attacked at the same time. The rhyhorn charged through the blasting water as if it didn't even matter and rammed straight into Blastoise's stomach. Blastoise bellowed, reeling back from the blow his attack cut off. I stared open mouthed. Rhyhorn was a ground pokemon. He shouldn't have been able to take that blast from Blastoise, not directly at least, and I definitely hadn't expected him to hurt Blastoise.

"This is what you're up against boy," Giovanni said smirking, "Do you still want to continue?" Ben looked troubled for a moment before nodding. Giovanni nodded in return.

"Very well then. Your turn." Ben thought for a moment and grinned.

"Okay, Blas! Use _that_ move!"

"Smart, not shouting your strategy for your opponent to hear," Giovanni approved. Blastoise quickly charged forward and slammed down towards the rhyhorn. The rhyhorn managed to dodge, but Blastoise was already moving and blasted the rhyhorn directly with another hydro pump. So close he wasn't able to just shake it off, pushed back a few steps. The rhyhorn bellowed but charged forwards yet again.

Blastoise lowered his head as well, and the two powerful pokemon went head to head. At the last moment Blastoise withdrew into his shell, dizzying the rhyhorn with the sharp blow against the hardened shell. The rhyhorn staggered backwards, disoriented, and Blastoise quickly popped back out. He sent a stream of explosive bubbles towards the rhyhorn, and finally knocked him out. Blastoise panted heavily, drained from the difficult fight. Ben grinned.

"What do you think of that?" he crowed.

"Not bad. Now let's see what you're really capable of," Giovanni answered. The rhydon charged forward.

"Ben!" I shouted. Blastoise was exhausted, he couldn't stand up to the rhydon, not in this condition! Ben shouted in surprise. With little time to come up with anything he shouted "Withdraw!" Blastoise quickly pulled into his shell, and the rhydon crashed into him. Rhydon had lowered his head, his horn cracking against the shell. Ben cried in shock as Blastoise passed out from the pain. Ben rapidly called back his pokemon, thinking.

"Alright, let's go with something a little more high flying. Go Pidgeot!" The proud bird took to the air circling above his opponent.

"Quick attack!" Pidgeot rapidly swooped down, moving fast enough to be barely visible. The rhydon didn't move. He didn't even try to dodge, or attack back. He just took the blow. I was surprised until I remembered that this was a ground pokemon. Heavy in defense, the pokemon could afford to take a few blows. All it would most likely do is wear Pidgeot out. Pidgeot hovered above, clearly shaken by the fact that the rhydon wasn't even stirred by his attack.

"Agility!" Ben called sharply. Pidgeot cried in agreement and began to twist around the stadium picking up speed as he soared higher and higher. At last he dropped down lower, and the rhydon attacked. He rushed forward with a horn attack, only for Ben to call out for Pidgeot to mirror the move. Pidgeot sharply struck, but against a much heavier opponent he was the one to be dazed. The rhydon charged forward, and would have trampled Pidgeot if Ben hadn't shouted "Fly!" at the last moment. Safe again in the sky Pidgeot dove down into an attack, only for the rhydon to shoot out and grab Pidgeot by the wing, slamming him into the ground. Pidgeot was knocked out.

Ben returned Pidgeot chewing his lip. Pidgeot was one of his stronger pokemon, but he was delicate. He looked to his line up and nodded.

"Kangaskhan," Ben intoned. Kangaskhan roared with fury and charged the rhydon. They rapidly began to exchange blows in the center, Kangaskhan matching the rhydon blow for blow.

"A poor choice," Giovanni said, "Kangaskhan is very protective of the young they keep in their pouch. A weakness easy to exploit." I winced at the thought of Kanya being crushed in the pouch, unable to move. It was a good thing she was kept with me instead of her mother. Still, he wouldn't really do that to a baby pokemon, would he?

Proving me wrong the rhydon directly attacked the pouch, stomping on it over and over. Kangaskhan did flinch, but she only roared in fury and began attacking even more heavily driven by anger of what could have been. Ben smirked.

"Nice try," he said, "and on a normal kangaskhan that probably would have worked. Too bad Cara is the one with my kangaskhan's joey." As he spoke Kangaskhan slammed her fist forward with a comet punch. The rhydon reeled back, surprised by the kangaskhan's heavy blows. She quickly followed up with a mega punch, and he was out. Giovanni smirked.

"Very good," he said, "it takes a very talented trainer to get through two of my pokemon with only three of theirs. Now that I've had my fun, I suppose I should get serious." Nidoqueen stepped forward. Kangaskhan flexed, ready to fight, only to be hit by a blur. She was out cold. Ben and I both gaped at Kangaskhan. How had the nidoqueen taken her out so easily? The nidoqueen had been so fast, we hadn't even seen the attack!

Reluctantly Ben returned Kangaskhan and turned back to his pokemon. Clenching his teeth he sent out Arcanine. Growling protectively Arcanine sent out huge blasts of fire. Of course they did little damage against the ground type, but it only seemed to make Ben more flustered. The nidoqueen rushed forward again, but Arcanine matched her speed and quickly twisted around, biting into the nidoqueen's arm. She flinched in pain, but still whirled around and sank her horn into Arcanine's side. Arcanine was forced to let go and leaped back, trembling slightly. He'd been poisoned.

Arcanine leaped forward again with another bite, but with the poison coursing through his veins he was easily knocked out with a punch. Ben returned Arcanine and sent out Haunter. The mischievous pokemon seemed to match the nidoqueen for a while before again being poisoned, and succumbing to it the same way Arcanine had. At least it seemed that the nidoqueen was ready to collapse. Ben sent out Nidoking, and as expected the nidoqueen was easily knocked out.

Ben looked shaken. He was down to his last pokemon, and he'd only taken out three of Giovanni's. How was he going to win this? Still, he stood there with Nidoking at his side. Giovanni nodded, and his own nidoking stepped forward. The difference between the two was clear to see, Giovanni's nidoking far larger and more powerful. Scars covered him, a testament to his strength. Beside him Ben's nidoking looked too young and inexperienced for this battle. Still they locked claws. For a moment it seemed Nidoking might have a chance, but then Giovanni's nidoking swung his tail clubbing Nidoking in the head, and he was out. Ben was defeated. Ben trembled as he returned his last pokemon. All that training, all that work, and he was defeated. I watched in shock as he came over to my side. Ben was the strategist of the two of us. If he was defeated so easily, how could I hope to stand a chance? Giovanni returned his pokemon and turned to me.

"Give me a moment to heal my pokemon, then I'll be right with you," he stated politely. I nodded and looked over at Ben. He looked devastated. But what could I do? I had no idea what to say. We'd been told Giovanni was tough, but I hadn't even come close to imagining something like this. If this was what one of the gym leaders was like, how powerful were the Elite Four? I felt my stomach twist inside, unable to settle down. A moment passed, and Giovanni returned. He released his pokemon again and turned to me. Standing I released my own team: Polaris, Leviathan, Hurrico, Blossom, Pexle, and Vaardesh. Giovanni looked surprised that not all my pokemon were fully evolved. I tried not to be insulted by that. Truthfully though, I felt even less prepared at the thought.

Giovanni gestured, and his nidoking stepped forward. I shuddered slightly, remembering the speed and power the pokemon had possessed. I still had to try and match it.

 _Allow me._ I looked with some surprise at Pexle. I was still learning how to use telepathy, and his use of it to communicate with me caught me off guard. Still, if he wanted to face this opponent I would let him. I nodded my head, and Pexle proudly walked out. Giovanni scoffed slightly at the fox pokemon. I opened my mind, reaching with my own telepathic ability to connect.

 _Be careful, he uses his tail as a club,_ I thought to him. Pexle nodded slightly in acknowledgement. The nidoking scraped his foot along the ground, and charged. Pexle stood still until the last moment, teleporting away. The nidoking swung at empty air, and Pexle blasted him from behind with his fire. I winced slightly. _Fire won't do much, concentrate on psychic attacks._ Pexle released his flame and responded by bombarding the nidoking with stones torn from the ground. The nidoking roared in irritation, crouching down against it.

 _That's it, keep working on weakening him!_ Suddenly the nidoking crouched down, and tore his own chunk out of the ground. He hurled it towards Pexle, nailing the ninetales in the head. Staggering he dropped his psychic assault. Nidoking answered with a barrage of poison needles, the toxins spinning through the air. Pexle teleported away, but not before one nailed him in the body. Panting heavily Pexle shuddered against the poison. I quickly returned him. He had at least worn down the nidoking slightly, maybe someone else would have a better chance.

"Vaardesh, your turn!" Vaardesh leaped forward and blasted the nidoking with water. He spluttered and charged forward, but Vaardesh was faster than the larger pokemon. He danced out of the way and struck from behind. A sharp blow knocked Vaardesh away, but he attacked again this time summoning a wave of water. The ground thoroughly churning into mud Vaardesh was at the advantage in the slick substance. He blasted again and the nidoking slipped, finally being knocked out. I cheered loudly.

"Alright!" Giovanni nodded grimly and waved for his rhydon to come forward. I returned Vaardesh quickly, knowing the young vaporeon wouldn't stand a chance against the powerhouse. I turned to Blossom and nodded. "Your turn." My ivysaur bravely moved out to face the larger pokemon. She quickly began to whip at the pokemon her vines snapping with determination. Rhydon roared in irritation and grabbed one of the vines using it to hurl Blossom away. I gasped and bit my lip quickly. She would be fine. Shakily she stood back up and sent leaves to slice at her opponent. I watched as she slowly began to charge herself. It wasn't easy, she was just an ivysaur, but I knew Blossom could pull off a solar beam.

She held her ground bravely as the rhydon charged before finally blasting. The rhydon cried in pain. She'd done it! I was sure he would be knocked out, but instead he struck Blossom, knocking her out. I choked quietly at the sight bringing her back in. I hummed looking at my pokemon.

"Leviathan, it's your turn," I announced. Leviathan roared and slid out, easily crossing through the mud soaked terrain. The rhydon stomped his foot, attempting an earthquake only to slip through the mud. That was all that was needed for Leviathan to get in a solid hyper beam blast. The rhydon was down. I'd managed it! I cheered smiling up at Leviathan. My gyarados was more than a match for Giovanni's pokemon! He was the powerhouse of my team after all.

"Persian," Giovanni said calmly. I was surprised. Why would he send a normal type pokemon that was so small out against Leviathan? Persian sparked for a moment, and I realized. "No!" Persian leaped up, releasing a powerful burst of thunder. And the muddy water that had been my ally turned against me, shocking Leviathan hard. The gyarados trembled, but he didn't go down quite yet. He lashed his tail out, the persian easily dodging the larger beast. He sparked again, and the second thunder took Leviathan down. I stared in surprise. My poor gyarados.

I returned him and thought carefully. I'd have to be careful if I was going to manage to take down the persian. I released Pexle again, hoping he'd be alright for just a little while to take down the persian. Pexle nodded at my thoughts and lashed out quickly with confusion. The persian shook himself, hitting the walls as he tried to attack Pexle. Unfortunately he succumbed to the poison then, forcing me to withdraw him from the battle. Thinking at least that Pexle had managed to lay in a good blow I sent out Vaardesh again, still trying to wear down the powerful persian.

I should have remembered the thunder attack, as my poor vaporeon was laid out in one blow. I only had two pokemon left now: Hurrico and my ever faithful Polaris. I looked at Hurrico and nodded. "Your turn buddy." Hurrico rushed out flexing with excitement. To my surprise Giovanni returned his persian, sending out his golem instead. Realizing what was happening I called "Withdraw!" It was just in time as Giovianni's golem exploded. The golem was knocked out, and Hurrico was badly hurt. He still pulled himself up, ready to keep going. "Hurrico," I whispered. Hurrico glowed faintly. I was afraid he was going to try another attack, but instead he evolved. The new blastoise clicked his cannons ready to attack. Giovanni nodded his head, and his nidoqueen stepped forward. My heart sank as Hurrico blasted the nidoqueen with hydro pump, only to collapse at the first punch. Giovanni's golem had done too much damage.

I was down to my last pokemon now, and Polaris was at a disadvantage against the three ground types. Still, my pokemon had given their all, I couldn't do any less. I looked at Polaris. The proud ponyta trotted forward, ignoring the smirk on Giovanni's face. she quickly rushed in with a fire spin, but it didn't do any damage. It was a game of speed instead, the one area I knew Polaris was better than the nidoqueen at. Or at least she should have been. Heavy blows rained down on her.

One last blow would have taken her out, but the doors swung open and a woman rushed up to Giovanni. He paused, Polaris panting heavily the flames on her body flickering with exhaustion and pain. She whispered to him briefly, and Giovanni nodded. He returned his pokemon catching me off guard. Giovanni strode over, and placed an earth badge in my hand. He walked over to Ben and did the same.

"But we didn't win," I blurted.

"You didn't defeat all of my pokemon, but I never said you had to," Giovanni said, "All I said was that you could use all of your pokemon. The requirements for the badge were to defeat three of my pokemon, and you did so. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some urgent business I must address." I stared in surprise as he quickly turned and left. Another man walked by behind the door, barely visible as he walked by. Yet I couldn't help staring.

"Well," Ben complained, "I don't feel that I earned this badge at all. He should have told us." I didn't answer.

The man had been wearing a Team Rocket uniform.


	16. Chapter 16

We sat in the pokemon center waiting to hear if our pokemon were alright. They all desperately needed healing after the devastation at the Viridian Gym.

"I think I understand what he did," Ben said thoughtfully. I didn't answer, barely aware that he was talking. The earth badge dug painfully into my hand.

"He did it to see how far we could go. He's such a good trainer he probably can't lose, so he tells trainers to go all out, not telling them they only need to defeat three."

"Or he was trying to get us out of the way." Ben shot me a sharp look.

"Why would he give us badges to get us out of the way? No self respecting gym leader would do that, not even for whatever business he had come up."

"He would if he was part of Team Rocket." Ben stiffened.

"What makes you say that?" he asked carefully.

"As the back door opened I saw someone in a Team Rocket uniform. And Giovanni looked really familiar to me. I thought it was because I'd seen a picture of the Viridian Gym leader before, but there aren't pictures of him, are there?" Ben shook his head.

"I had seen him before though. He was the one that escaped at the Pokemon Tower in Lavender Town." Ben gave a low whistle. He thought about it and snapped his fingers.

"Giovanni is one of the leaders." I looked at him.

"What makes you say that?"

"It would have to be one of the leaders of Team Rocket. No one else would be trusted to run a gym in the Pokemon League for Team Rocket, and that woman was reporting to him." I nodded, adrenaline pumping through my veins. I'd just faced off against one of Team Rocket's leaders.

"Which means they're after Mew!" I pulled out the burnt piece of paper with the half entry I'd rescued. Ben leaned over my shoulder and frowned studying it.

"Not just after Mew, they seem to want to clone her," Ben muttered. I bit my lip.

"That wouldn't be good," I muttered.

"It's a good thing Mew rarely shows up," Ben agreed. I looked at him.

"You don't think that business had anything to do with Mew...do you?" Ben shrugged.

"Hard to tell." I shook my head.

"We have to find out. Mew has to be safe!"

"How do you suggest we do that?" Ben asked. I thought carefully. If we were going to help keep Mew safe we had to know what was going on. The only way to find out what was going on would be to snoop around Team Rocket's place.

"We could break into the gym, see if there's anything from Team Rocket there," I suggested. Ben stared.

"You're crazy. You're not only talking about breaking past the regular security a gym has, which by the way is breaking the law, but finding the Team Rocket headquarters, which would have to be extremely well hidden to be in a league gym, and then breaking into that, after we just got our butts handed to us in a pokemon battle."

"Do you have a better suggestion?" I asked.

"Tell the police?" Ben suggested half heartedly. I shook my head.

"They'd never believe us." Ben sighed.

"Can't believe I'm going to do this," he muttered. I grinned. We were gonna break in.

It was late at night when our pokemon were finally healed up that we headed back to the gym. We crouched outside and Ben looked to me.

"So do you know how we're gonna get inside?" I grinned and helped up Kinesis' pokeball.

"Kinesis can help us." I released the kadabra, the psychic pokemon looking around curiously.

 _Yes Cara?_

"Can you sneak into this building and find out if there's a Team Rocket headquarters here?" I asked. Kinesis nodded his head, and vanished in a flash. Ben and I waited impatiently, shifting every once in a while against the chill of the evening. When he finally reappeared I was relieved.

"Well?"

 _Team Rocket is inside._ I flashed a grin at Ben.

"We were right! Kinesis, can you teleport us inside, somewhere where no one will see us?" Kinesis hesitated before nodding and grabbing Ben. They vanished out of sight leaving me on my own. It was a few minutes later that Kinesis reappeared panting slightly. Kinesis grabbed me and teleported me inside. Returning him to his pokeball I looked around to where Ben was looking at some boxes.

"A storage closet?" Ben looked over to me.

"Looks like it," he answered. We began digging through the boxes searching for Team Rocket uniforms to help us disguise ourselves. We found tons of empty pokeballs, a few radios, some electronics we couldn't identify, and an entire box of police uniforms. I shivered at the sight. How could we tell who was Team Rocket if they were disguising themselves like this? Pushing that out of my mind I grabbed a box, relieved to have finally found the uniforms. Ben and I quickly changed.

"Hope they don't ask for an ID," Ben grumbled. I nodded my head chewing on my lip again.

"We'll just have to try and keep out of sight as much as possible," I suggested. Together we exited and slipped through the halls. It was surprisingly empty, perhaps because it was so late. Or maybe we were simply in the wrong area. I wasn't sure. Hearing voices coming from up ahead we snuck closer, listening closely.

"You idiots!" someone shouted. A chill ran up my spine recognizing it as Giovanni.

"We finally capture proof that Mew is real, and you let it escape?" he demanded. I glanced at Ben. It looked like I'd been right, that business he'd sent us out of the gym for was about Mew.

"Well," a female voice answered, "we would have arrived sooner if you hadn't been in a gym battle with those two losers." Ben scowled. Losers? We had worked hard! Yeah Giovanni defeated us, but that didn't mean we were losers!

"I'm a licensed gym leader," Giovanni answered, "I need to work at least occasionally to keep the gym. Stop making excuses."

"Yes sir," the woman muttered in assent. Silence fell for a time. I glanced at Ben wondering what was going on in the other room. We didn't dare to look though.

"Imagine," Giovanni muttered, "Mew is so powerful already, what could it's clone do?"

"Hey!" Ben and I whirled around finding a member of Team Rocket standing behind us.

"How'd a couple kids get in here?" We flinched. Hearing the cry more of the Team Rocket members looked over from the room we'd heard them talking about Mew in. Thankfully Ben thought fast and grabbed me. We ran down the hall as fast as we could Team Rocket following after us.

"Stop those kids!" they shouted. Twisting into an empty room I quickly released Kinesis.

"Quick, teleport us out!" I shouted. Picking up on my urgency Kinesis rapidly teleported us out-and promptly passed out from exhaustion. I returned Kinesis to his pokeball mentally apologizing for exhausting him as we ran as fast as we could away from the gym. It was a ways away that we collapsed to the ground, both of us panting.

"Well…" Ben panted, "that went well." I rolled my eyes at his sarcasm.

"At least...we know for sure...now," I shot back. Ben snorted.

"Like that's worth anything. What are we going to do? We can't tell the police, not when it's a gym leader's word against a couple of kids, especially when it involves something so unbelievable." I frowned.

"I'm sorry Ben," I apologized. Ben rubbed his head.

"Ah, that's alright Cara," he answered, "I didn't mean to snap at you. This is just getting serious, that's all. I'm worried we might get hurt."

"Then...we'll just have to train so our pokemon can defend us," I said. Ben grinned.

"Yeah. Next time we'll be strong enough to defeat Giovanni." Pulling out our sleeping bags we curled up and slept, visions of Team Rocket hunting us and torturing Mew flooding my dreams.

I woke up to a pair of eyes staring straight at me. Screaming in shock I pushed myself back, the eyes quickly pulling away. Ben struggled in his sleeping bag sitting up with shock.

"What's going on?!" he demanded. I took a deep breath as the blue eyes came into focus.

"It's just Mew...not Team Rocket." Relieved I sank back down. Mew drifted closer.

 _Team Rocket?_ I blinked. This was the first time I'd really communicated with Mew since developing my abilities. It had always been vague before. I nodded my head slowly as Ben slumped over, relieved I was alright.

"Yeah, Team Rocket was chasing us. Hey! I heard they almost caught you. Are you alright?" Mew twisted to be floating upside down.

 _I'm fine. Are you?_ I nodded my head slowly.

"We're fine. You need to be careful Mew. Now that they know for sure you're real they'll hunt you even more!" Ben looked at Mew.

"You should leave. They're looking for us as well now," he said, "I'd rather they didn't find us together." Mew drifted over to Ben.

 _That's why I'm here. Safer._ Ben glanced at me and shook his head.

"Is Mew going to leave?"

"Doesn't seem like it." Digging through my bag I found an apple and tossed it to Mew. The playful pokemon caught it and immediately began to nibble away on it. Yawning I crawled the rest of the way outside of my sleeping bag and looked over at Ben.

"Guess we'd best pack up," I said. We began to gather our things together. I wanted to find a pokemon center, hopefully not the Viridian one, to get Kinesis checked out. I had pressed him rather hard last night.

I stilled feeling a sharp blade at my throat. A panicked squeak managed to escape me as I froze. I was going to die! I was only twelve years old, and I was going to die! Ben turned around, surprised by me falling quiet.

"What-" he stilled eyeing the scyther holding it's blade to my neck. The woman that had been talking to Giovanni sauntered forward.

"Well what do you know," she drawled, "the girl and the boy are here with Mew. three birds with one stone." She chuckled darkly. Several gastly and haunters materialized, followed by a large gengar. My breath caught in my throat. Mew was weak to ghost types, she wouldn't be able to help with them around. The playful pokemon darted back and forth, no longer looking so cheerful and carefree.

"You know," the woman said stepping forward, "you look familiar. Do I know you from somewhere?" She hummed for a moment and snapped her fingers. "That's right! Mt Moon! Who would have guessed you would have caused so much trouble?" My eyes widened. Deena. I remembered her. She had been one of the first members of Team Rocket we'd met. She'd terrified us.

More Team Rocket members came out circling around us. One of them grabbed my hands and twisted them back, tying me up. The scyther's blade cut slightly into my throat, drawing a thin trickle of blood. I breathed shallowly, afraid that the papercut like wound would kill me.

"Now," Deena said, "nobody make any sudden moves. We wouldn't want this poor girl to die now, would we?" She smirked nastily.

 _Mew!_ I shouted mentally. _Get Ben out of here! Take him to the police! Please!_ Mew looked at me anxiously hesitating. I didn't know if she could get rid of the ghost pokemon though, and I didn't want to chance it. Bad things would happen if Team Rocket managed to secure Mew.

 _Go! Now!_ Mew flipped once through the air, and with a shimmer she vanished-taking Ben and my pokeballs with her. I sagged in relief. Deena screamed in fury, and slapped me across the face. I gulped shaking slightly.

"Get her out of here," Deena ordered. The scyther finally moved away from me, and something struck me from behind. Blackness swallowed me. The last thing I heard was Deena ordering them to search the forest.

"That won't be necessary," Giovanni said, "Finding Mew just got a whole lot easier."


	17. Chapter 17

My head was pounding. I didn't want to open my eyes, knowing that most likely the sudden flash of light would only make things worse. I hadn't felt this bad since Ben and I forgot to bring water with us and I ended up dehydrated. I moved slowly, wincing at the pain. Where was Ben? What happened?

Slowly my memories came back. Team Rocket had captured me. I shifted uncomfortably my heart pounding in my chest. At least they hadn't decided to kill me. I'd been terrified they would do that when the scyther was holding me. I opened my eyes slowly. I was leaned against something, and was extremely uncomfortable. I shifted, trying to pull my hands forward only to wince as they pulled against the rope. That was right, my hands were tied up. How could I have forgotten? I looked around slowly, trying to orient myself. I was in a mostly bare room, tons of members of Team Rocket milling around. What were they all doing?

A loud thud drew my attention to the enormous nidoking towering over me. I wanted nothing more than to get away from it, but I was already pressed into a corner. I had nowhere to go. The nidoking looked at me and growled softly. In reply Giovanni turned and walked over.

"Good, you're awake." His tone was almost pleasant, as if we were just meeting to chat over a meal rather than having imprisoned me. I groaned.

"Wha...whaddya want?" My voice slurred slightly, still disoriented from the blow.

"I suppose I should get straight to the point before you pass out again. Where is Mew?" Giovanni asked. I snorted. They actually expected me to know that?

"No clue." Giovanni frowned.

"I can make this extremely uncomfortable for you if you don't tell me," he threatened.

"I dunno. She...she's shown up a coupla times t'steal apples from me...never sticks around." Giovanni frowned.

"How convenient that she was there when we found you," he said coldly. Obviously he didn't believe me. I frowned wondering how to convince him I truly didn't know more. I stiffened, remembering Mew's words. She wanted to protect me. No, I just had to act cool. They wouldn't learn more from me.

"This isn't your first encounter with Team Rocket," Giovanni said coolly, "you were there to mess with the Mt Moon operation, and you were there in Pokemon Tower. Then you conveniently showed up at my gym, breaking in later to overhear our plans to capture Mew. These aren't coincidences. Now tell me, where's Mew?" Ben had been right. Sticking my nose in other people's business really didn't pay. If I hadn't been so nosy maybe Team Rocket wouldn't have noticed us, would have just let us go. Or even believed that it truly was a coincidence.

"Tol' you, dunno…'n' I'm not helping you make an evil clone!" Giovanni stiffened. Immediately I knew I'd said the wrong thing. He hadn't known I'd figured out his plans that far. I'd pay for it now.

"Now how did you figure that out?" he said nastily. I shook my head, refusing to say more. Sighing impatiently he signaled his nidoking. The powerful pokemon leaned down and struck me across the face, sending me sprawling into the ground. Dazed I laid there for a moment, unable to focus enough to think. It hurt so much. Slowly I pushed myself up. I could feel something trickling down my cheek. Was that blood? Was I really going to die here? I shivered, wanting nothing more than to be back at home where I was safe. I wanted my mom.

"Now," Giovanni said, "how did you find out?" Not wanting to be hurt anymore I mumbled softly.

"What was that?"

"Said...overheard you...in the gym," I said. Giovanni smirked.

"So your friend would know as well. Too bad. Guess I'll just have to dispose of both of you." My eyes widened in terror. He was going to kill me! He was going to kill Ben!

 _Help!_ Giovanni smirked at the fear written across my face.

"Now you just sit there, and think if you have anything else you want to tell me." Silently I shuddered, tears falling down my face. Why did this happen to me?

 _You'll be okay._ I blinked. That wasn't me. Was that...Mew? I flinched as the nidoking set to guard me shifted. I glanced up, surprised to see he'd fallen asleep. That wasn't right. Why would he suddenly fall asleep? Suddenly Mew popped in. I relaxed. I was safe! Mew would teleport me out of here, and everything would be okay! Mew drifted over to me, concern from her lapping against my mind. I forced a smile, ignoring the tear tracks on my face as she nuzzled me. She grabbed me and concentrated, but nothing happened.

 _Mew?_ Mew didn't answer, just concentrating. Still nothing changed. Panicked Mew dove down to curl next to me.

 _Can't teleport!_ I stiffened. It was a trap! They must have suspected that Mew would come after me after she saved Ben, and used me as bait. Somehow they'd managed to set up barriers to prevent Mew from teleporting.

 _Quick! Fly out of here!_ Suddenly something dark shot towards Mew. Taken off guard Mew was too slow to dodge. A blue bubble slowly formed around the psychic pokemon. Panicked I tried to lunge towards Mew, only managing to tip myself better and hit the ground. Giovanni chuckled as he walked forward, Mew battering herself against the bubble. Slight shocks responded, adding slight cuts to her body.

"Well, well," Giovanni said, "look what we have here." He smiled as he grasped the bubble. Mew was finally in Team Rocket's hands.


	18. Chapter 18

I watched furiously as Giovanni walked away and set the bubble containing Mew on a strange device in the center of the room. Poor Mew darted back and forth, fear clear in her eyes. She was far from the playful pokemon I'd first met. The other members of Team Rocket let out a cheer at the sight, and scrambled about as they began preparing for some awful procedure.

 _No! Help!_ I did my best to focus my mind. There wasn't much I could do, but perhaps I could contact another psychic, pokemon or human, and let them know we needed help. Mew had heard my cry after all, surely someone else could as well?

Still not feeling that great the strain made me dizzy. I tried to focus, but the world seemed to shift. I was looking at a grassy hill that seemed almost familiar. Blinking I remembered the dream where I'd first seen Mew. This seemed so similar…

 _Help...Mew needs help,_ I thought desperately. The strange shapes that made up the hill didn't respond. Crying in frustration I sank down. Blinking I opened my eyes again seeing Team Rocket working on the procedure. I must have blacked out. Dropping my head I cried. It was hopeless.

Something tapped me on the arm. I jerked away, looking up to see a kadabra.

 _Cara._ I blinked. _Kinesis?_ The kadabra nodded. I smiled, before remembering.

 _We can't teleport out of here,_ I thought furiously, _we're trapped._

 _Help is coming._ I blinked in surprise. What help? Had Ben gotten to the police in time? I sure hoped so. Time was running short for Mew...and for me as well. Kinesis knelt down next to me, concentrating on the ropes tying me up. They loosened and fell down. I rubbed my wrists and leaned into Kinesis, soaking in the comfort of having one of my pokemon with me, even if it was in such an unfamiliar shape. I wondered what he meant by help.

A sudden crash drew my attention. I looked over to see two pokemon pounding in. One was a ponyta. _Polaris!_ She whickered in delight at seeing me and galloped to my side nuzzling me. I happily stroked her relieved to see him again. More pokemon came in, Ben mounted on top of Arcanine. I stared in shock as pokemon of all shapes and sizes began to pour in.

"How…?"

 _When they heard Mew was captured they wanted to help._ That explained all the pokemon I didn't recognize. All of mine and Ben's pokemon were here as well, instead of at Professor Oak's. How Ben had managed to get them all I had no clue. I stared in awe. Polaris nudged me again, and I struggled to stand up. Leaning heavily on her I approached Ben. It was incredible, seeing all the pokemon Ben and I had captured mixed with wild ones. I regretted not capturing more now, even when I already struggled finding the time to train the ones I had. I noticed that Charren was missing and looked to Ben in surprise. He didn't give anything away, his full attention on the monster that had captured me.

"You won't get away with this," Giovanni said. He released his pokemon, the monsters forming a barrier in front of Mew, only his slumbering nidoking missing. The Team Rocket members released their own, quickly outnumbering the pokemon we had brought. But what could we do? We had to fight, outnumbered or not.

A loud roar grabbed my attention. I turned my head to see a charizard leading in a squad of bird pokemon. Of course! They had all been missing. I grinned. But who was the charizard? Looking at her I recognized the brown streak on her nose. Charren! She'd evolved! Excited I raced toward her. Charren nuzzled me as I quickly clambered onto her back.

 _Those of you who can, use sleep powder on the enemies. We can't waste time fighting them all one on one. Concentrate on area attacks!_ The pokemon roared their agreement and the attack continued. Slowly we began to cut through the numbers. It was tough, and I winced seeing pokemon fall in battle. Team Rocket was the enemy after all, not their pokemon. But we had no choice. Seeing a gap in the defenses I directed Charren to swoop down so we could grab Mew's bubble. The legendary pokemon squealed in excitement as we seized her. We were going to make it!

A flock of fearows suddenly hit us. Charren roared in pain as I was knocked down. I screamed in terror. Charren seized me for a moment, but only managed to slow my fall before we both hit the ground hard. Charren was knocked out, having used her own body to protect me. I grabbed up Mew's bubble, looking around in the chaos. There! I darted through the gap in the battle trying to get to the collapsed wall to escape. Pokemon rose up to stop me, only for others to get in their way. I might have made it, but even with pokemon fighting on my side we were badly outmatched, and I was quickly surrounded. I clutched Mew's bubble protectively, unsure what to do now. I glanced around, only to see that most of the pokemon had collapsed. There were a couple battles left, but for the most part the pokemon that had come to the rescue had been knocked out. Only Ben on his pidgeot was still truly out there, and he was quickly brought down by the same flock of fearows that had taken down Charren. I shivered in fear. All this, and we still lost?

Giovanni strode forward a grim smile on his face. "I must say, you put up more of a fight than I ever expected you to." I trembled at his words.

"You have still lost, of course. Now hand over Mew, and I might not kill your friend." I glanced over at Ben. A scyther stood over him just as one had stood over me, blade to his throat. No! I couldn't just let Ben die...but could I really give up Mew? Trembling the pink pokemon looked at me in terror. I whimpered.

"It's alright," Giovanni soothed, "you have no choice really. You don't want him to die, do you? Just hand over Mew, and things will be alright." I made a short abortive movement to pass Mew over, not entirely sure of what I was doing. Giovanni smiled.

And lightning rained from the sky.

Several members of Team Rocket cried in fright. The pokemon trembled immediately backing down. Lightning cracked over them again, this time followed by a chill that only sharpened the sound of thunder as the electricity struck mercilessly at those standing. I shivered against the sudden drop in temperature. A sudden blaze of heat surprised me, feeling it come out of nowhere. I looked up to see what seemed to be three birds.

They weren't true birds. They couldn't be. Not when reality seemed to warp around them, the air trembling with the might of fire, lightning, and ice. The three birds seemed to be bickering before the storm descended, barely contained within wings. Zapdos opened his beak, and thunder filled the air forcing me to collapse to the ground. I wasn't the only one that fell, the few members of Team Rocket that had survived the lightning striking falling over. Fire and ice clashed overhead as the storm raged. No one dared to move as the storm struck the machine that had held Mew. The bubble shattered, the psychic pokemon nuzzling into my arms.

"What…?" Mew nuzzled me, gratitude filling me.

 _Will repay the debt. Twice I now owe you,_ Mew chirped. Twice? Before I had the chance to ask what she meant she drifted over to Zapdos. I don't know how she withstood the storm to get there. Snuggled into the legendary bird's neck she sighed in relief. Crying with thunder the storm took to the sky. The trio circled ahead for a moment, before vanishing out of sight. My legs gave out, sliding to the ground. Had that really happened?


	19. Chapter 19

"Ouch." I flinched away from Ben's touch. A large purple bruise was forming on the side of my face, and the cut from the nidoking was tender. I knew I looked terrible, and I hadn't yet dared to look in a mirror, half afraid of what I'd see.

"Let me look, please," Ben pleaded. He was insistent on checking the cut, despite both of us having been to the hospital the day before. The police had arrived shortly after the legendary birds and Mew had vanished, drawn by the ruckus we had created. Most of the Team Rocket members that had been there had been arrested, including Deena. I was happy to see the last of her, but I couldn't really rest. Giovanni had managed to somehow vanish in the commotion, standing up to Zapdos and finding a way to escape before the police arrived. It worried me. He'd most likely go right back to hunting Mew. At least I knew she was with others that could take care of her now, like I was.

Cleaning up yesterday had been a disaster. Almost all of our pokemon were still in the pokemon center. I'd tried to explain to the police what had happened without mentioning Mew or the legendary birds, but I'm pretty sure all they got was hysterics. I'd been pretty torn up yesterday. I felt a little embarrassed thinking of it, enough to want to stop Ben from poking at my bruises.

"Just let me take a quick look, then I'll leave you alone," Ben bargained.

"Fine," I relented. Ben examined the wound, and finally satisfied I was alright he stepped back.

"I'm sorry," Ben said. I stared at him.

"For what?" I asked baffled.

"For letting you be taken. I should have helped more," Ben answered. I chuckled.

"Ben, you provided plenty of help. You told the police, and got all our pokemon together to bust me out of there. Yeah it didn't exactly go as planned, but I'm fine." Or at least, I would be. Not that Ben needed to know that. He looked so guilty. He nodded his head. I leaned against him.

"Come on, let's go see our pokemon."

It took another week before our pokemon were declared well enough to leave. The bruise had mostly faded by then, though the scar on my cheek would remain. At least we were gonna be okay, and Mew was fine. Or would be. We only really started moving again when Professor Oak emailed us a reminder that the Pokemon League was going to start in another week. I chose to use a similar team to what I had with Giovanni, swapping out Hurrico and Blossom for Pooka and Charren. A charizard was a powerhouse after all, and I didn't want to be caught without an electric pokemon again. Pooka had earned his spot on my team.

We didn't have time for much training, arriving just in time to see the torch run begin. I was beyond nervous at this point. There were so many competitors! How could I ever hope to make it past the preliminaries? Still, we'd come this far. Surely if I persevered we'd get through this.

A small party was held that night by our families and friends from Aqua Town. It seemed all three of us had managed to make it this far. I didn't see Amber or her venusaur as I'd heard he now was, but they would be in the tournament as well. Buoyed by the fact that we'd all made it I imagined we might have an even better chance when the matches finally began.

My first match was dead easy. Perhaps I should have held back a little, but Leviathan was perfect for the water field. I didn't even have to use any other pokemon to win. I missed Ben's first match, as we were at the same time, but we were able to celebrate our victories together before hurrying back for our second matches. The second match out on the rock field was more difficult for me, Pexle getting knocked out by my opponent's rhyhorn before Charren managed to win me the match. I was getting a little cocky at this point. After battling Giovanni, how could anyone else be a real challenge?

I'd forgotten that the people here had faced Giovanni as well. My battle at the grass arena was drawn out, struggling with each pokemon to land in a heavy hit. We were both down to our last pokemon when Pooka got in a lucky hit knocking out my opponent's growlithe. The match sobered me up some. I hadn't had to struggle that hard in a match for a while. I rushed to heal my pokemon, a little worried Ben would be having the same struggles. It seemed Ben's opponent had been just as difficult, but his superior strategy had carried the day. I was relieved as we both headed back for our fourth and final preliminary matches.

The ice field would be difficult. I didn't have any pokemon that could really take advantage of it. I decided to start with Charren, as the charizard wouldn't have to even deal directly with the slippery ice. Charren let out a thunderous roar and took to the sky. My opponent smirked and sent out a golbat. It seemed we had the same idea.

The pair clashed in the air, Charren sending blasts of fire after the bat pokemon as he twisted around. Golbat sent a sonic blast at Charren designed to dizzy her. It looked like Charren had managed to mostly dodge it, but the way she shook her head worried me. "Charren, seismic toss!" I called. I had to finish this quick if she was confused. Charren roared her agreement and flew straight at the golbat. The pokemon managed to dodge sending Charren flapping dizzily in a circle before she managed to get a good grip on the golbat. She slammed down, harder than necessary. The golbat was out, but Charren had badly hurt herself with the toss and was wavering across the already slippery field.

I chewed my lip considering withdrawing Charren. Truthfully though with her as confused and dazed as she was she had best do as much damage as she could right now. Dodrio was sent out next, and I quickly yelled for Charren to use flamethrower. Charren rapidly coated the area in front of her in flame, half melting the ice. The dodrio managed to weather against the flames though it didn't look very good, and struck hard with it's beaks against Charren. Charren retaliated with a wild swipe of her claws that completely missed, only to be struck from behind and stomped into the ground. At least Charren had managed to weaken the dodrio some. I returned Charren and thought before deciding to release Leviathan.

My opponent clearly thought I was nuts to use a water pokemon on this field, forgetting that Leviathan was a dragon pokemon as well. I smirked.

"Leviathan, ice beam."

"Dodge!" he shrieked. The dodrio began to quickly run around doing it's best to dodge the pillars of ice that formed as Leviathan missed striking the small pokemon again and again. The dodrio was having trouble sprinting on the ice, but managed to cross and attack Leviathan. Thankfully once it landed on Leviathan he managed to bind the pokemon and hit it with a direct blast. The pokemon finally fainted, forcing it to be recalled.

A muk was sent out next. This wasn't good. One touch could easily poison Leviathan, and my gyarados would be out for the rest of the battle. He was a difficult target to miss as well. The muk didn't have the same problems crossing over the ice as the dodrio had had, moving rather easily.

"Hyper beam!" I cried. Leviathan easily hit the muk with it, but it's body absorbed much of the blow before it came into contact with Leviathan. The gyarados shuddered as the toxins were absorbed into his skin. Thrashing he managed to toss the muk away, but not before the damage was done. Ever so patiently the muk attacked again and again. Leviathan succumbed to the poisons, sinking down.

Gritting my teeth I recalled him. Who should I send out next? Polaris and Pexle would both struggle on the ice, being fire types, and Pooka's electric attacks would do little to harm the muk. Psychic attacks just might work though. "Kinesis, your turn!" I shouted. My kadabra materialized and looked across to the muk.

 _Ready Cara,_ Kinesis said. I grinned. Linking up with Kinesis was almost easy at this point. Perhaps soon I'd be able to communicate with all of my pokemon this way. No more hit and miss with the telepathy.

 _Use confusion, and follow up with a kinetic attack._ Kinesis nodded and rapidly focused confusion on the muk. The large beast slowed, shivering slightly under the confusion that attacked it's mind. I grinned as Kinesis followed up by picking up the muk with his mind and slamming it around. Confused the muk was unable to properly fight the attack, only hurting himself. It took a few more blows, but finally the muk was knocked out.

The referee signalled the end of the match, and I breathed a sigh of relief. I'd won!

I arrived in time to catch the tail end of Ben's own match. His opponent had been just as tough as mine, Ben barely sliding out with a win.

"I don't know how much more of this I can take," Ben groaned. I sympathized with him. Ben had always been more into electronics than pokemon, and the competition was stressful. The higher we went the more pressure I felt to keep winning.

"We've made it this far at least," I said, "that proves something, right?" Ben grinned proudly.

"Yeah. We're some of the best." I grinned and nodded. For only our first year as pokemon trainers we had gone far.

"We should try and relax before the next round starts," I suggested. The finals wouldn't start until tomorrow, giving us plenty of time to heal our pokemon and try to unwind from the stress. Ben nodded in agreement, and we headed out to find some way to relax. Part of me wanted to watch the pokemon matches, but I knew seeing how good my opponents were would only stress me out, and I'd spend too much time trying to figure out how to beat them. I was better at coming up with plans on the fly, different from Ben's own methods.

We ended up eating out at a diner. It was truly nice and relaxing, a far cry from the hubbub of the matches. It was so close. I might actually accomplish my dream, and win! It was hard to imagine that we were truly here, two kids from a no name town. Plenty of talk about the pokemon league tournament surrounded us as we ate, people talking about matches that had been particularly thrilling. I was surprised to hear Ben's name come up. Ben flushed when I looked at him.

"It was nothing," he muttered. I pinned him with a look, but he simply squirmed with embarrassment. Grinning I patted his shoulder.

"Hey, that just shows they know how good you are." Ben turned an even darker red, and we headed back to the hotel to rest. Tomorrow would be a big day.


	20. Chapter 20

We showed up early to start watching the matches. I was surprised when it turned out Amber was competing first, and even more surprised that her ivysaur hadn't yet evolved. Blossom hadn't evolved either, but she wasn't my main pokemon. The pokemon she battled with were beautiful, stunning to watch perform. It was a tough match, going all out six on six before Amber was declared the victor. Ben went next, his team much more precise and direct than Amber's. His strategies carried the day allowing him to scrape past with another win.

I watched with interest as one of the opponents everyone had been talking about entered the field. Carl was a tricky fellow. They'd talked about his matches being won through pure fluke, and watching it I could tell why they thought that. His golduck slipped, barely missing being struck, his onix made a mistake and ended up throwing a boulder that shattered a blastoise's shell. I couldn't tell if he was genuinely lucky, or if he was that good a strategist, just making it look like an accident. I wished I'd seen more of his matches.

I battled against a guy that looked like he was specializing in fighting types. Kinesis won that battle pretty easily for me, backed up by Charren and Leviathan. The guy looked pretty ticked off that he lost. I cheerfully turned back to watch more of the matches with Ben. Each team here was pretty impressive, most containing teams of fully evolved pokemon. I was starting to feel nervous facing off against them.

The morning started with Amber facing off against a fellow called Josh, someone with a real powerhouse of a team. I couldn't help but be impressed by the sheer power and speed his team demonstrated, each one packing more of a punch than I could have imagined. Amber, despite how well coordinated her team was, was completely blown away. Seeing that I couldn't help but be nervous for when my own match came up. My stomach twisted as Carl, the man who'd won by 'fluke', showed to be my opponent. Nervously I headed down to the field.

Carl flashed a grin at me as he released his golduck onto the field. Deciding to take all the advantages I could get I sent out Pooka. Unsure what to expect I asked Pooka to start with agility, followed by double team to try and confuse the golduck. Dozens of copies of Pooka sprouted up. Golduck clumsily used mirror move, producing his own copies. Only two of them formed, the copies flickering slightly. This would be almost too easy. I studied it for a trap, but all I saw was a golduck that couldn't properly use his move. I knew it was suspicious, but I couldn't just ignore the chance I was given. I quickly thought at Pooka to use his thunderbolt to take out the copies. Pooka struck, only to find himself missing. I was surprised. Each time the two copies were taken out and Pooka was about to hit the third two more would be made and Pooka would miss. But how? The copies were so bad, it was obvious!

Golduck formed an enormous wave the water rapidly building. Pooka's small build would take a lot of damage if it hit.

"Thunderbolt the wave Pooka!" I shouted. Pooka quickly obeyed me, but Golduck had already leaped clear of the wave. I smelled something odd just before the electrified wave hit my poor pokemon. Salt? Salt conducted electricity! The jolt would be too strong for Pooka's body to take! Before I could cry out a warning the wave crashed, paralyzing Pooka and knocking him out. I returned Pooka, apologizing silently to him. How had Carl known to make a wave out of salt? How had he told his pokemon? Or was it just a fluke, like so many of his wins seemed to be?

Fumbling for a moment I tried to think. What would be good against his golduck? Pooka had had a type advantage, but still had fallen. I needed a pokemon that could match the golduck's strength. I selected Leviathan's pokeball and tossed it out. Roaring Leviathan looked around scanning for his opponent. Carl blinked, looking surprised at my choice. Leviathan was a powerhouse after all. I grinned as Leviathan sent a hyperbeam at the golduck. Carl flinched as his pokemon was knocked unconscious by the powerful blow. He paused and thought.

I blinked in surprise as a marowak was sent out. A marowak against a fully evolved gyarados? It seemed ridiculous. Yet the marowak didn't seem the slightest bit intimidated as it began to drum against the ground. Leviathan lazily moved forward to bind the marowak only to have the marowak leap up and begin it's crazy dance on Leviathan's body, the bone rhythmically pounding against Leviathan.

 _Roll!_ I thought fiercely. Leviathan twisted in compliance, but all it did was expose his belly, the marowak jogging over Leviathan as he rolled easily. Reaching Leviathan's head he sucker punched the gyarados, knocking him out before he could even do damage. I was shocked. How did the marowak take Leviathan out so easily?

Shaken I was more cautious trying to choose my next pokemon. Obviously raw power wouldn't be enough. I would need someone who could see through the tricks.

"Kinesis," I called. The kadabra formed on the field, humming thoughtfully. Our minds linked together and I viewed the battlefield with him. Carl still seemed rather relaxed, as if everything was going exactly as he'd expected. Had he seen my battles? Is that how he knew how to counter me? The marowak continued to dance and drum against the ground. It was a bit of a challenge to catch the marowak and freeze him psychically. Kinesis sent a wave of confusion towards the marowak before releasing it. I grinned. Now we would see if the wins were truly a fluke.

The marowak staggered, and suddenly bashed it's bone much more heavily against the ground creating an earthquake. Shaken up Kinesis rapidly teleported. Again and again the marowak bashed the ground sending tremors through it. Kinesis couldn't stay more than a minute on the ground, and he was beginning to exhaust himself with the rapid teleportations. Thankfully it looked like the marowak was doing just as much damage to itself in it's frenzied actions. Kinesis quickly took advantage of the marowak's confusion to push it over. The bone swung wildly, and it knocked itself out. I grinned. Carl's luck had turned.

Carl sent out an onix, the behemoth looking down on my kadabra. I chewed my lip. It seemed like a no brainer that Kinesis would win this match up, but it had seemed like Pooka would win against the clumsy golduck. There would be a trick here. The onix thrashed about, seemingly just as weak and uncontrolled as the previous two. I knew at this point that it wasn't true. The onix would be a fierce opponent.

Immediately the onix burrowed under the earth. _Use Ancient Power_ , I thought quickly. Kinesis hummed in agreement and began to throw the rocks, using the power to burrow after the onix. The onix came up and slammed into Kinesis, the kadabra flying across the arena.

 _Kinesis!_

 _Cara._ I sighed in relief. Kinesis sounded alright. He stood up again, and rained the rocks down on the onix. The enormous pokemon shook, not damaged by the rocks. seeing that Kinesis switched to attacking his mind, confusing the pokemon. The onix thrashed about, hurting Kinesis in the process. Thankfully this last attack proved to be too much for the onix, and he finally collapsed. Silence fell, Kinesis trembling slightly as he forced himself to keep standing.

"The winner, Cara Kellan!" I blushed furiously as the crowd roared with excitement cheering me on. I had actually won. It was hard to believe. I returned Kinesis and quickly darted off the arena. I felt awkward standing out there now that the battle was over. Ben grinned widely as he congratulated me for my win.

"Looks like we'll be fighting each other next." I grinned at Ben. We had both made it to the top four.

"Looks like." Battling against Ben would be amazing. His strategies were sharp, and I had seen how he'd grown as a trainer. Even if he wasn't as into this as I was we had done amazingly well together. No matter who won tomorrow it had been an amazing journey. I hugged Ben. I couldn't wait for tomorrow.


	21. Chapter 21

Ben and I were both up early the next day. I hadn't slept very well, too excited for my next match. I was sure I would be facing Ben, even if chances were I would face someone else. We had come all this way together after all wasn't it fitting that it would end the same way? We headed down and watched the matches line up. Sure enough, Ben and I would be competing against each other. Ben grinned at me.

"May the best trainer win," he offered. I nodded. We headed down to the arena and parted sides. This would be tricky. We knew each other's teams and tricks well. It was only a four on four match, but it would still be a struggle. Whoever passed this would be facing off in a battle for the championship. Taking a deep breath I decided to let whatever happened, happen. I released Charren, my charizard pumped for battle. Ben smirked as he sent out Blastoise, his starter looking fierce.

"Blastoise, hydro pump," Ben said calmly. Blastoise charged his cannons, and blasted water straight towards Charren. The charizard took to the sky flying around rapidly in attempts to dodge it. For a while Charren was successful but the blaze of water finally caught up to her knocking her out of the sky. Charren bellowed in rage as she pushed herself off the soaked ground. Tail whipping around she blasted a flamethrower towards the crack in Blastoise's shell. Blastoise was hit hard, but quickly steadied himself. He attacked with another torrent of water, Charren doing her best to dodge and get in close enough to swipe across the shell. Charren's blows were heavy, but against Blastoise she was finally knocked out unable to withstand the high pressured water.

I returned Charren and looked over my pokeballs. I released Leviathan, the gyarados bellowing in greeting. I smiled at the feel of excitement coming from him. It seemed for once he was eager for a fight. Ben shivered, and I smirked. Ben never had been as comfortable around Leviathan as I was. Something I was fully willing to take advantage of. I ordered Leviathan to use a hyper beam. Leviathan measured Blastoise with his eyes before complying, managing to land a direct hit. Blastoise still wasn't out though, following up his attack with an earthquake. I hadn't even known Blastoise could learn that move.

Shaken Leviathan let out a shattering roar. He lunged forward and bit into the blastoise. Blastoise retaliated blasting water directly into Leviathan's mouth, but the gyarados was too angry to care. He shook the blastoise his teeth crunching down on the shell. Blastoise managed to hold on for a couple more minutes before passing out.

"Leviathan, he's out," I said quietly. Leviathan slowly came out of his rage. Noticing the blastoise in his mouth he lowered him gently to the ground and nudged him. Ben sighed as he returned Blastoise.

"This is gonna be tough," he muttered, "Haunter, your turn." I gritted my teeth as he released the ghost pokemon. He might not be fully evolved but he was one of the few of Ben's pokemon that could actually hurt Leviathan. Now wasn't the time to be messing around. Leviathan quickly struck with hyper beam damaging the haunter but not quite knocking him out. The haunter attacked, phasing through Leviathan and draining some of his energy. Leviathan shuddered. He was beginning to tire after the barrage of attacks from Blastoise and the slow drain on his energy. Twisting around he managed another hyper beam attack, at the same time as a shadow ball was sent his way. Haunter was knocked out-along with Leviathan.

We both returned out pokemon. We each had two left to send out. Ben grinned as he sent out his kangaskhan, the pokemon stamping her feet in anticipation. That worked out well for me. I released Kinesis, the kadabra floating as he looked over his opponent before settling down.

 _Ready Cara?_

 _As ready as I'll be Kinesis._ I smiled. With our minds linked the kangaskhan didn't stand a chance. None of the hits landed. Surprisingly Ben didn't look too worried as Kangaskhan was knocked out. He sent out her replacement, Nidoking, and I realized the trap.

 _Kinesis, look out!_ Ben must have planned this since sending Kangaskhan out, slowing down Kinesis by wearing out his attacks and following up with Nidoking to poison him. Kinesis shuddered as the poisonous barbs sunk into him. He teleported away but it was too late. He was poisoned. I gritted my teeth. Kinesis might be poisoned but surely we could still take down Ben's nidoking. Kinesis created a pulse of psychic energy and tossed it at Nidoking He managed to dodge the blast and roared, storming towards Kinesis. The kadabra teleported again out of the way and shot a blast from behind catching Nidoking in the shoulder. The powerhouse groaned in pain but still whirled around determined to take Kinesis down.

Kinesis teleported again, but the poison was beginning to wear on him. It wouldn't be long before he was forced to collapse. Nidoking charged again. Kinesis was slower on the teleportation, just being glanced by nidoking before he managed to teleport. He was of target and panting heavily at this point. I winced in sympathy. I touched Kinesis' pokeball wondering if I should withdraw him.

 _Let me finish._ I nodded in reply to Kinesis' thought and watched as he attacked one more time with a psychic attack. Nidoking shuddered as he was thrown back. Kinesis hovered in triumph at the knocked over beast, before collapsing. I quickly returned him. It looked like I had won.

"It's not over yet Cara," Ben said. I looked over in surprise. Nidoking had forced himself to stand back up. It looked like Ben was going to force me to use all the pokemon I was allowed for this battle. I grinned. This wasn't an easy fight. I released Pexle, the ninetales proudly strutting forward. Our minds linked with an ease I usually related to Kinesis. I was improving!

Nidoking charged towards Pexle. Unfortunately while Nidoking was being hit by Kinesis Pexle was fresh from his pokeball. The ninetales easily dodged the attack, quickly sending a blast of fire at Nidoking. The attack didn't have a lot of effect on the ground pokemon. Nidoking twisted around and charged again. Pexle stood his ground, waiting until the last minute to blow a giant fireball in Nidoking's face. Nidoking took the blow hard, but still managed to strike the ninetales. Skittering slightly Pexle spun around this time sending a psychic attack after the ground pokemon. Nidoking flinched hard, wounded already from Kinesis' attacks. Pexle leaped in, striking a final time biting down on Nidoking, and he was out.

I couldn't believe it. It was...I had actually won. I'd won the match! Ben bowed his head across from me. I cheered as I returned Pexle to his pokeball and left the arena. I hurried to the pokemon center. As soon as my team was well I was gonna release them so we could all celebrate together. I entirely forgot about Ben in the rush of my victory. It was only after he entered the center, his head held low, that I remembered. I had won, but it was through crushing my friend.

"Ben." Ben glanced at me as he wearily passed his pokemon over to the nurse.

"Congratulations on winning Cara," Ben said. His smile was thin, barely passing as one. I smiled, my own joy at winning diminished.

"Thanks. It...it was a really tough battle," I offered. Ben laughed hollowly.

"Not tough enough." I stepped over to Ben, wanting to comfort him, but he moved away.

"Don't worry about it. Concentrate on your match. You're gonna be fighting for the championship tomorrow, right?" Ben said easily. I frowned.

"Ben…" The nurse came back and talked to Ben for a moment. He nodded before turning and leaving. He didn't even say goodbye.

Suddenly my victory didn't taste so good.


	22. Chapter 22

I watched the last match, my nerves on edge. I hadn't relaxed since it had sunk in that I had defeated Ben and was alone facing the champion. I'd always had him at my side before. Ben was so upset by his defeat though. We hadn't talked since. It felt strange, being without him. I had still celebrated with my pokemon. They had done well after all and deserved the treat. They had tried to cheer me up some, but I still missed my friend.

Josh ended up being the one to win the match. Despite the power his opponent had Josh's tactics had him looking like he was moving in slow motion. My gut churned at the realization that I would be facing him. I was good, but surely not good enough to win against him. I shivered at the thought as I returned to my room. I'd have to use every strategy I could think of if I was even going to stand a chance against Josh.

It was late when someone knocked on my door. Rubbing my eyes I pushed it open shoving the exhaustion away. I had to focus if I was going to be able to do anything in the upcoming battle. I opened the door and blinked in surprise.

"Ben?" Sheepishly Ben rubbed the back of his head.

"Hey Cara. Can I come in?" he asked. I stepped back motioning for him to come in. Ben walked in and looked around. My room was a bit of a disaster zone, equipment scattered everywhere with drawings of my pokemon covering the desk. I'd been attempting to make notes and form a strategy the way Ben would have, but it hadn't worked out too well. Ben glanced at the pictures a slight smile slipping across his face.

"So…" I said awkwardly. I shifted my weight. Ben looked up to me tugging slightly on his hair.

"Yeah...I came to...apologize, I guess," Ben said. I stared at him.

"Apologize?"

"For getting so upset over our match. For being mad that you won, despite the fact that I'd worked so hard with coming up with strategies. For not being there to congratulate you."

"Ben, I get why you were upset," I told him, "you wanted to win too. I guess it was just too much to lose after getting so far and see me be so happy about your loss."

"We couldn't both win," Ben reminded me. I looked down.

"I know...but I still kind of wanted that." Ben grinned and pulled me into a hug.

"Thanks Cara," Ben said, "Now you get some sleep. We can work on your strategy in the morning." I grinned in relief. Ben was back at my side.

We spent the morning holed up in my room working out strategies. It was tough considering how not all of my pokemon were fully evolved. I loved them the way they were, but it didn't mean that evolved pokemon weren't stronger. Speed would be the name of the game if I was going to stand any chance against Josh. As prepared as I was going to get I walked down with Ben to the arena. I felt sick at the thought of the crowd. Ben leaned close to me.

"Hey, it'll be fine," Ben said, "and win or lose, look how far you've gotten! And it's just your first year!" I smiled shakily. He was right. Besides, I was going to be thirteen in a couple more days. A teenager. I had to be more mature than this. Taking a deep breath I walked out. The roar of the crowd almost deafened me. I looked across at Josh, the young teenager smirking slightly.

"Ready for this?" he called. I nodded my head.

"As ready as I'll get." Josh tossed his pokeball, releasing an enormous tauros. I gulped. The bull pokemon was simply enormous, and could easily crush me. Thinking carefully I decided to start with Charren. She was powerful enough to match the tauros at least. The pair clashed, the tauros' horns digging into Charren's sides while she clawed deep into the tauros' hide. Both quickly separated, panting in pain. Charren sent out a heavy flamethrower coating the ground. With no way to escape the tauros was knocked out. I couldn't help the sight of relief that escaped from me. That tauros had been dangerous, and Charren was bleeding pretty heavily from those horn gouges.

My relief was short lived as Josh responded by sending out his own charizard. It roared in challenge, Charren quickly firing up and answering with her own roar. I reminded Charren that she would have to reply on being faster than this charizard, and she nodded before taking to the air. Josh's charizard was right on her heels. They exchanged blasts of fire. I could feel the heat all the way from where I was on the ground. Suddenly the charizard seemed to vanish. My eyes widened.

 _Look out!_ Either my warning was too late or my telepathy too weak, as the charizard reappeared right above Charren and slammed heavily into her sending her crashing into the ground. Unable to take anymore I was forced to return her. Gritting my teeth I looked at Josh. So he wanted to play it that way? Fine! Leviathan was more than a match for any charizard! I tossed the pokeball sending out my gyarados. The charizard roared again, Leviathan answering with a deep bellow of his own. The battle renewed, confidence flooding through me. I had a type advantage, and was fighting with a dragon pokemon. How could I lose this round?

"Earthquake," Josh drawled in a bored tone. His charizard quickly complied, shaking up Leviathan. The gyarados cried in anger lashing out with hyper beam. The charizard dodged it as if it was mere child's play. I couldn't believe that he was so good. His fire pokemon was actually managing to hurt my water pokemon! The charizard flew in close striking at Leviathan's exposed belly. Leviathan managed to hit him with hyper beam this time, but it wasn't enough to take out the tough charizard. Faster than Leviathan could react the charizard darted in clawing at Leviathan. My gyarados managed to get in a solid bite, but received a flamethrower straight down his throat. Exhausted by the battle Leviathan collapsed. I returned him and eyed the charizard. He looked about ready to collapse, a single attack should be enough to bring him down.

I sent out Pooka, the pikachu growling slightly as he looked at the charizard. Pooka was the fastest on my team and one of my oldest despite his lack of evolution. He was one of my strongest. Pooka sparked with excitemet and quickly turned into a blur over the ground. The charizard didn't even have time to react before a thunderbolt struck him knocking him out. I congratulated myself, despite knowing exhaustion had a larger role in the charizard being knocked out than any true strategy on my part. Josh had true monsters on his team, and he'd already taken out Leviathan. I was worried.

I blinked in surprise as Josh sent out a sandshrew. I had thought he'd evolved his entire team. He surprised me with his choice. Josh smirked.

"Dig." The sandshrew vanished from sight. Pooka's ears twitched watching with caution. I connected psychically with Pooka, warning him to watch for tremors telling where the sandshrew would come up. Pooka listened, but still didn't manage to dodge the tackle when the sandshrew suddenly burrowed up underneath him. Tossed through the air Pooka twisted sending a thunderbolt back toward the sandshrew. It wasn't effective, the sandshrew simply diving back down into the earth and vanishing out of sight. Pooka trembled slightly ears twitching every which way. The sandshrew popped up again hitting Pooka hard. It was difficult for Pooka to figure out how to dodge, and took a fair amount of damage before he began to figure out how to dodge from the tremors. He sent another sharp jolt of lightning at the sandshrew, but the sandshrew brushed it off as easily as it had the first and tackled Pooka hard. He was knocked out cold.

Surprised I chewed my lip thinking. I only had three pokemon left, and I wanted to save Polaris for last. That left Pexle or Kinesis to face up against the sandshrew. I grinned. Pexle would be able to track the sandshrew with his psychic abilities, and the fox would enjoy the chance to play with prey. I released Pexle, the elegant ninetales trotting proudly out onto the field. He tensed as he sensed the sandshrew beneath the ground. Neatly he dodged as the sandshrew erupted from the earth. Surprisingly the sandshrew managed to direct his spin in midair to hit Pexle still. Snarling Pexle dug into the sandshrew and tossed him. I wasn't sure how much damage he'd done but he had managed to catch the sandshrew off guard at least.

Pexle's tails fanned out behind him, and I knew he was using his psychic abilites to track the sandshrew. Silently I told him to watch out as he'd tackled Pooka into exhaustion with his speed. Pexle dipped his head slightly and began to dance. Fire spread out as he moved, coating the top of the field. When the sandshrew popped out again he shrilled in pain as fire licked the outside of his shell. It wasn't as painful as it could have been but it left an opening Pexle gladly took advantage of. The sandshrew managed to slash open a gash on Pexle's muzzle angering the ninetales. He shook himself tossing the sandshrew into the air. Dashing forward he caught him and bit hard into his body. The sandshrew squealed and finally passed out.

I was surprised again when Josh returned his sandshrew and sent out a scyther. I thought for sure this one would be easy, but before Pexle even had a chance to move the scyther had sliced across his throat, leaving him bleeding out Panicked I quickly returned him to the safety of his pokeball. He'd have to see a doctor immediately after the match! Worried I sent out Kinesis. Kinesis looked back at me.

 _Have a care, trainer,_ Kinesis thought, _I am weak to their kind._ I shuddered. I had forgotten bugs could be effective against psychics! I tried to direct Kinesis to the best of my ability, but he was still rapidly knocked out. Surprised by the speed that I'd lost him I returned him. Only Polaris was left. Polaris trotted out, tossing her head proudly. The scyther raced forward, probably planning to cut into her just as neatly as it had Pexle. Polaris didn't stay still though quickly proving that despite her age she had inherited the speed of her breed. The pair flashed back and forth across the arena competing to see who would hit the other first. With the scyther's blades and Polaris' fire it would only take one hit to knock the other out. Stamping her hooves she flared her flames finally catching the scyther. The bug pokemon screeched as it collapsed. Josh looked a little grim as he drew out his next pokemon.

A drowzee materialized, and I knew I had lost. There was no way that Polaris could stand up to the hypnotic pokemon. Sure enough it was only moments later that Polaris fell asleep, gently collapsing to the ground. I returned Polaris and sighed. Josh won the match.

I could feel tears building in my eyes as Josh walked across to shake my hand.

"Congratulations," I muttered. Josh grinned.

"You as well. You did amazing. Is this only your first year training?" I nodded my head. Josh grinned.

"I never would have expected a rookie to give me such a great match. Thanks." I smiled shakily. Cheers filled the arena as Josh waved to the crowd. I turned and headed back to the tunnel. I needed to get to a pokemon center and get my pokemon looked at.

I was barely holding back the tears that blurred my vision as Ben came out of the tunnel to greet me.

"Hey, you did great," Ben soothed, " you got second place." I fell into his arms, sobbing. Ben stroked my hair. I could see the rest of my family coming to greet me, my mom and dad looking proud at how far I'd come. I had done a great job as a rookie. My family congratulated me, and we slowly left together to the pokemon center. I managed a smile.

I may not be the champion, but I had gotten second place, and my family was proud of me. Perhaps that was the best I could ask for.


	23. EXTRA

The pokemon league had ended, but my journey hadn't. I wanted to keep training, with the hopes that maybe if I grew good enough I would win the next time the league came around. I had gotten so far despite my youth after all. Surely that was a sign that I could do this?

I was finally thirteen along with Ben. We had celebrated at home with our families before beginning to train our pokemon again. Ben had ended up working part time with Professor Oak on the pokedex, explaining the modifications he'd made while we'd traveled. My parents had actually paid for me to receive riding lessons at the Laramy Big P Ranch when I realized that Polaris was finally old enough to ride, or at least begin to. It would still take a fair amount of training. I didn't even notice as the months rolled by, busy with my training and enjoying bonding with Polaris on a closer level. My telepathy was improving as well. I could really only communicate clearly with my pokemon, but maybe one day I would be able to speak with the wild pokemon as well.

Ben and I were relaxing together on one of the rare days that we were both in Aqua Town at the same time. A pidgeotto came fluttering down, a satchel wrapped around it. I sat up, looking at the bird curiously.

"Mail?" Ben watched as the bird reached into it's satchel and pulled out two engraved invitations. It dropped them in our laps and took off again I picked up the invitation and looked ait it.

Miss Cara Kallen,

You are cordially invited to participate in a unique pokemon contest on Avalon Island. The pokemon trainer who wins the contest shall earn a special prize. Your ferry to the island will depart from Vermillion City at 9 am. Please show your invitation to board.

Yours,

Jed Anders

I frowned. The name sounded familiar, but I couldn't quite place it. I looked over at Ben who was scanning the exact same invitation, only with his name on it. His eyes widened a grin tugging at his lips.

"Wow! This is great!" Ben exclaimed.

"Why's it so great?" I asked. Ben stared at me.

"Don't you know who Jed Anders is?" I shrugged uncomfortably.

"It sounds familiar. Why?"

"He's a millionaire, and a huge fan of pokemon. He holds all kinds of contests for trainers that have made a name for themselves in the pokemon world." I arched a brow.

"Well that explains why he's invited us. Do you know what kind of contest it will be?" Ben shrugged.

"Nope. He tends to be pretty erratic. Sometimes it's just a regular battling tournament. Sometimes it's a scavenger hunt, or a coordinator contest. Sometimes it's a race. It all depends really. But the prize is always something really amazing. And Avalon Island? I heard that he owned an island, but to think we'd actually be able to go there!" I grinned.

"Then we'd best ask our parents. Come on!" We raced back to our houses bursting with excitement of the news. The contest sounded like it would be a lot of fun, whatever it turned out to be. My mom and dad were disappointed to hear I'd be leaving again so soon, but that was just how things went. I was a pokemon trainer now, I would be doing a lot of traveling. I was legally an adult in a lot of ways. They agreed that the contest sounded like a great idea, and I hurried back to hear that Ben had received the same news. Soon we were packed and ready for the contest.

Arriving at the ferry I was pretty nervous. I didn't recognize anyone besides Ben here, though I knew all the trainers had to be pretty amazing to receive invitations. I was a little surprised that Josh wasn't there, but as the new champion he was probably pretty busy. At nine 'o' clock the ferry's horn sounded, and an old man stepped forward with a microphone. Ben leaned towards me.

"That's Jed Anders," he whispered. I nodded my head. He looked a little weak standing there, as if he wasn't feeling too good, but the smile on his face pushed that thought to the back of my mind.

"Welcome everyone! I'm glad you could make it. As you know, the contest shall be held at my private island, Avalon. There are some rules you must abide by while on the island, the most important being that you are not to capture any pokemon that you might see there. Avalon is a sanctuary for pokemon, a safe place for them. Anyone caught capturing pokemon shall be fined and forced to return the pokemon. The second rule applies to the first: try not to disturb Avalon's ecosystem. The pokemon there are unused to humans, and live without human interference. I would like to keep it that way. Finally, treat my staff with respect. Those who do not shall be removed from the contest. I shall announce the contest's rules once we arrive. Thank you."

He bowed, and everyone cheered. We climbed onto the ferry, Ben looking around with some curiosity. The ferry was rather high tech, and of course that would appeal to Ben's geek side. I stuck close to him, a little afraid of being separated in the crowd. Close by a couple trainers were bickering.

"You don't understand," the boy said angrily.

"I get that you're worried about your grandmother Kevin, but that doesn't mean you can just push people around," the girl snapped.

"Fine! See if I'll bother with you again," the boy snarled. He stormed off, leaving the girl looking rather sad. I quickly looked down. It was none of my business, and really it was private. I shouldn't have watched what I did.

The trip was rather smooth, and more enjoyable than I expected. Breathing in deeply I watched as we sliced through the water. Ben stayed close, knowing that I was nervous about being alone. For all my bravado I didn't deal well with crowds. When I spotted the island on the horizon I eagerly leaned forward.

"Look! There it is!" I said excitedly. Others exclaimed the same, all rushing to get a good look at the island. It was thick and forested, very little visible. I watched with some surprise as a black and red fox pokemon vanished into the undergrowth.

"I've never seen a pokemon like that before," I muttered. It looked like this island had different pokemon than Kanto. No wonder Jed Anders had been so careful about warning us to not catch any of the wild pokemon. Docking the ferry I could catch a glimpse of a grand old victorian style mansion and a place for pokemon battles. The group moved again gathering around the frail old man. He coughed slightly before straightening and taking out his microphone again.

"Welcome to Avalon! The competition today will be an exciting one. It shall be...to find the king of the island! No, I shall not tell you what the king is like. You are allowed to bring one empty pokeball with you to catch the king with, but you shall be expected to release what you capture at the end of the contest. If you need anything feel free to help yourself to anything in the house. A healing machine is also available for your pokemon. A camera shall be following you at all times to keep track of your progress. You have one hour left until the start of the competition. Use this time wisely."

At once everyone began to chatter, speculating on what the king of the island may be. Was it a legendary? A rare pokemon? Jed himself? No one could agree. I spent the hour checking over my team. I'd decided that the best ones to ask would be the pokemon that lived there. The king was most likely a pokemon, and to gain the title of king the pokemon was probably well known and respected by the others that lived there. Kinesis would be useful in communicating with them.

At the end of the hour dozens of miniature flying cameras were released into the air, settling near the trainers. Ben examined them with glee. I snorted. It seemed Ben wouldn't be competing. He was too busy marveling over the technology. Sure enough he didn't leave the ferry when everyone else did, waving for me to go on ahead. I hoped he wouldn't do anything that would get him into trouble with Mr Anders.

I headed out into the forest, Kinesis walking with me. It was peaceful once we left the ferry and got away from the noise of all the trainers. Several of them were heading to the mountain. I wished them luck in navigating it. I actually felt I had a bit of an edge here. If I could successfully work with some of the wild pokemon I would be able to get ahead and know where to head, instead of blindly wandering around.

 _Do you sense anyone nearby?_ I asked Kinesis. The kadabra answered by walking over to a tree. From behind a striped raccoon like pokemon popped up. It was unlike any I'd ever seen before. I knelt down, trying not to startle the pokemon as it eyed me warily. Concentrating I carefully linked our minds. I felt a sense of startlement and the link fell. I sighed. Not so easy. I tried again, and this time the pokemon held still.

 _Hello?_ The pokemon answered with a wave of wary welcome. Not words, the way it was with Kinesis.

 _Do you know the ruler of the island?_ Confusion bubbled up from the pokemon, questioning what I meant. I tried sending images of what I meant, someone being in charge, the strongest. The pokemon's ears flicked forward in recognition. A picture of the mountain and the sound of a deep roar echoed in my mind. So the king of the island was somewhere on the mountain.

 _Thank you._ I stood up. Alarmed by my sudden height the pokemon vanished back into the undergrowth. I smiled softly. That pokemon had been rather adorable. I hoped I could find one like it. I waved to Kinesis, and he teleported us to the base of the mountain. I returned him to his pokeball and sent out Charren. Charren bellowed out a loud greeting, nuzzling my head. Despite being so much larger than me she loved to be close to me. I wasn't sure if she saw me as someone who looked after her or as a giant teddy bear, but either way she was fairly affectionate when she wasn't being grumpy.

I climbed onto her back and we took off. I described to her quickly what I had seen. Knowing that no ruler could resist a challenge Charren began to bellow out one. Birds exploded into the air at Charren's cry. She echoed it, only to be answered by another charizard. The kid that had been arguing with the girl on the ferry flew over on his own charizard.

"What are you doing?" he demanded.

"Trying to draw out the king," I answered evenly.

"You're scaring everything off, that's what you're doing," he snapped. My eyes narrowed.

"It was worth a shot," I argued. The guy grit his teeth.

"Get out of here. I'm going to be the one to win this contest anyways," he said.

"I have just as much right to be here as you do." He glared at me.

"Charizard, flamethrower." I stared in shock as the charizard obeyed. Charren quickly twisted to protect me from the flame. I shivered. That was dangerous! Flashes of Giovanni's nidoking standing over me came into my mind. Charren growled, displeased. She shot her own flame at the charizard. It wasn't long before we were engaged in a furious battle in the sky, just barely clinging on to our charizards as they raced around breathing flames at each other. It was so close I could feel the heat searing my body. Roars echoed through the air.

Suddenly a much louder roar than the two charizards came. I trembled hearing it, the two charizards temporarily parting from each other. I watched in awe as an enormous dragonite came soaring out of the mountain-and straight towards us!

"I think we found the king," I gulped. The boy grinned wickedly, ignoring the cameras still following us.

"Great. Stay back, this one's all mine." My jaw dropped.

"You think you can take that dragonite on by yourself?" I cried. The boy grimaced.

"I have to win this contest!" Why was he so serious about a contest? I mean yeah, it would be great to win, but it wasn't everything. I didn't say anything more as the dragonite struck with an ice beam. Charren and I managed to roll out of the way, but the stubborn guy and his charizard were struck and starting to fall.

"No!" Quickly we dove down. Charren managed to grab them and slow their fall, enough for us to crash onto a ledge on the mountain. I rapidly slid off Charren's back and checked the guy's pulse. It was steady. he was just unconscious. It was a good thing his charizard was so talented or that would have been a huge freefall. The dragonite roared, Charren crouched protectively over us. The injured charizard added his own growl of protest to the noise. Rapidly I released Kinesis.

 _Please, tell him we mean no harm!_ Kinesis glanced at the situation and teleported up to the dragonite. For a moment I thought he was going to swap Kinesis right out of the air where he was hovering, but he paused. The pair silently communed for a moment before the dragonite flew down to where we were.

 _WHY HAVE YOU DISTURBED THIS PLACE?_ I clutched my head in pain from the thundering voice. Was that the dragonite?

 _WHY HAVE YOU DISTURBED THIS PLACE?_ I whimpered slightly.

 _Contest...to find the king of the island,_ I thought desperately at the dragonite. The dragonite paused.

 _WHY? TO CAPTURE ME?_ I shook my head, sensing the danger.

 _The man that owns this island admires pokemon. He wants to just see you._ The dragonite snorted. He didn't seem very impressed.

 _SO YOU DECIDED TO FIGHT EACH OTHER IN MY SKIES?_

 _It was a mistake. We got carried away. Please, forgive us._ The dragonite looked at Charren, and the wounded charizard. Both of the pokemon were looking rather ashamed and sorry. The dragonite nodded.

 _SO BE IT. I WILL SEE THIS MAN, AND THEN YOU MUST LEAVE._ I nodded in agreement. The king took off, headed for the ferry. I shivered and sank down next to Charren. Kinesis teleported next to me.

 _The king is very angry you dared to challenge him,_ Kinesis thought. I nodded my head miserably.

 _I should have known better than to do that._

 _Still a child, Cara._ I snorted. To Kinesis maybe, but not to most people. Not since I became a trainer. Hopefully Jed Anders wouldn't be facing an angry dragonite.

The cameras near us suddenly chirped.

"The king has been found, please return to the ferry. The contest is over." I looked at the foreign charizard.

"Can you carry your trainer, or should he ride with me on Charren?" I asked. The charizard shook his head, scooping up the boy in his arms. I climbed back on Charren and we slowly flew back. Arriving back at the ferry I saw a beaming Ben.

"Ben. What's up?"

"I found the king," Ben announced, "He flew right up to us. Since I was the only trainer around Mr Anders declared me the winner." My jaw dropped. All that work, and Ben won it because he happened to be there when the dragonite arrived. I laughed.

"So what was the prize?"

"You're not going to believe this," Ben said.

"What?"

"It's the island."

" _What?_ " Jed Anders walked over.

"I'm an old man now, and I can't look after this place like I used to," he explained. "Young Ben here has plenty of ideas of how to look after this place, and he's a real whiz with gadgets. He could get some good video of the pokemon that live here He promised that he won't ever develop it, and leave it as a sanctuary for pokemon."

"You can stay here as well," Ben told me. I rubbed my head sheepishly.

"That's if the dragonite forgives me for picking a fight on his island." Ben looked to the unconscious trainer.

"What happened with you? Is he okay?"

"He seems fine, just knocked out. We got into a fight with our charizards, and it ticked off the dragonite that we dared to do that." Jed Anders laughed.

"He is a proud fellow isn't he? Don't worry, I'm sure he'll forgive you as long as you don't do it again." I grinned.

"Believe me, I won't."

One by one the trainers began to come back. There was a party that night, hosting the end of the contest. Jed Anders explained how he passed the island onto Ben, making my friend turn a deep red. It wasn't what I'd expected from this contest, but it was fun. And I proved that I'd be able to communicate with wild pokemon eventually. I was excited for that.

Now that Ben owned Avalon, I couldn't wait to see the pokemon here. Perhaps my own pokemon could stay here, instead of at Professor Oak's. I grinned. Just another part of our pokemon journey.

Who knew where we'd head next?


End file.
